Memories
by quantumparadigm
Summary: Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko didn't know what he was getting into when he accepted his new posting aboard the SSV Normandy. Amidst the hailstorm of geth, bullets, jokes, and antiquated tech, he found something unexpected. Shenko.
1. Kaidan vs Alchera

**A/N: **Hey everyone! (For anyone coming back, I took down the first iteration of 'Memories' and rebooted it.)

This follows the story of Kaidan Alenko, and is the first part of a five part story arc for the Mass Effect games. Volume one (if you'll allow the coinage) will be told exclusively from Alenko's POV. The last four installments will split the POV between Shepard and Alenko. Sort of an _in media res_ format, but covering multiple 'books.'

Shepard is a colonist/war hero/infiltrator. Both are massive geeks.

Special thanks to Kassandra Black who is my unofficial beta for everything I write. :)

As usual, BioWare owns all. I simply play with their wonderful characters and universe.

So... onto the reboot! :) -quantum

**Prologue: Kaidan vs Alchera**

-K-

The lights inside the cabin of the escape pod flickered, accompanied by the buzzing sound only a light in the final throes of death is capable of making. Red emergency lighting kicked in, blanketing the cramped interior of the pod in a ruddy glow, exemplifying the horror painted across faces. If life were a B-rated horror film, greasy aliens would burst into the cockpit, dripping spit and spitting venom. Instead, the engines shut down in response to the successful landing. If punching your way into the side of a planet and skidding for who knows how many meters could be called successful. The deafening silence that accompanied the considerable lack of the pods engines brought me back to my senses and I took bearing of my surroundings, the reality of the situation sinking in. The pit of my stomach dropped as if separate from body and completely at the inexorably neutral will of gravity.

Blue eyes peering at me through a faceplate, filled with concern and deadly rage, pleading with me to forgive her while she ordered me to go, would have to wait for later.

"Report!" I ordered briskly as I unstrapped myself from the harness. My stomach stayed attached to the metal frame as I stood up, lurching. I could already feel a nasty welt heating the flesh beneath my armor from the force of the landing and my head thundered in pain as my feet fought to regain balance. Orange glow mixed with the murky red as I activated my omni-tool, assessing the extent of the damage to the pod. What I wanted was a functioning communications relay, so I could activate a distress beacon. The Alliance would be out looking for the _Normandy_ since Shepard managed to get _that_ beacon going before the ship was blown to hell. But the extent of the Alliance's ability to locate us didn't didn't extend to precognitive abilities of triangulation based purely upon the location of one ship in space. So while they'd find us eventually, the distress beacon would bring that 'eventually' a hell of lot sooner.

Emergency triage would only be able to do so much before someone would require surgery in order to survive. The universe doesn't grant you survival just because you've run into shit luck. It makes you work for it.

"Sir," Private First Class Gary kneeled against the bulkhead, tearing off a panel to access the manual locks beneath it. I squatted down next to him. "The access hatch is jammed. The mechanism must have been destroyed from the outside. Probably hit something during the landing sequence at just the right angle."

"If you can call that a landing sequence," I muttered. Gary managed a weak grin. "Rogers, Alecks, assist Gary and get this hatch open. Robinson, inventory the hazard gear and start compiling a list of what we've got. Thorne, try and get the other pods on the short range. We're going to need to coordinate our teams, distribute supplies, and set up a unified triage to make it off this rock."

A round of 'aye sirs' echoed in the small chamber. Duty gave marines something to focus on, to veer away from the horror of what had happened. Not everyone could compartmentalize when confronted with the terrible, requiring orders and menial tasks in order to keep them functioning. I'd seen too many marines succumb to shock, blanking in the line of duty and only responding to the drill sergeant voice only an O could muster in the thick of things gone to shit. My omni-tool beeped, picking up the trace I'd searched for and confirming what I already knew. The _Normandy_ had successfully sent out a distress beacon before being blown to high hell. The Alliance was coming. That beacon would hit the comm network and make its way to Arcturus.

I glanced futilely at the ceiling, wishing the metal hull would become transparent for just long enough to glimpse Shepard's pod. I knew that if I could only _see,_ I'd be able to point to one of many glowing pods in the sky and definitively say it was _her_ pod. And when it landed, and the hatch opening, she'd be standing just on the other side, grinning that half-grin she wore whenever she'd just done something ludicrously, maddeningly, and stupidly dangerous and survived.

"Sir," Thorne waved me over. "Only 9 out of 10 pods are accounted for. Most are within a 2 kilometer radius."

"Are their comms operational?"

"Aye, sir. Each one is compiling an inventory of materials. Doctor Chakwas has already set up a triage zone half a kilometer away from our position, here." He stabbed a point on the map on his omni-tool. The rudimentary terrain mapping program was pretty basic. Alliance standard crap handed out to people who'd only use it in a pinch. Ground teams knew better than to rely on the garbage handed to you in basic, instead cruising the Alliance bases and purchasing topography software at a steep discount.

Private Thorne had never hit the dirt with a marine detachment.

"Then that's where we're headed. Notify the other pods. Their orders are to grab whatever gear they can carry and relocate. I want a list of personnel, MIA's, and known KIA's."

Thorne hesitated. "Lieutenant... Commander Shepard and Flight-Lieutenant Joker aren't on the list of those checked in."

I closed my eyes and successfully resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of my nose. "Commander Shepard and Joker were the last to leave the ship. They'll be the last to check in. That's if the pod hits our radar."

Thorne lowered his eyes, but didn't say anything. It didn't matter, he didn't have to. I was crazy for believing that Shepard and Joker might still make it. The last pod wasn't on our sensors. Our pod had jettisoned only a couple minutes right before the _Normandy_ had breathed its last breath. Before the unknown assailant had turned around for another attack, blasting the millionth and final hole into the hull of the ship, cracking it open like an egg dropped on cement.

But I had to believe that Shepard made it.

Bile rose up the back of my throat. I had to get a grip. She made it, she was all right, and she was reaming Joker a new asshole for the nonsensical notion that he could save the _Normandy_. Then she'd high-five him, laughing in the face of death. If escape pods carried vodka - and knowing Shepard, there was a distinct possibility that at least one of the _Normandy's_ pods did (and knowing my luck, it wouldn't be this one) - she'd pour them each a shot and slam them down before they entered atmo. By the time their pod hit dirt, they'd be working their way through the rest of the bottle.

"It's open, LT," Gary hollered. The hatch fell away, revealing the snowy horizon of Alchera. Frosty air swirled into the pod, carrying wisps of snow and freezing wind. The beauty was only marred by the smoking ruins of the _Normandy_ streaking across the sky in the distance; a fireball of memories.

I hauled the gear over my shoulder and exited the pod. Crewmen were gathering on the ridge indicated by Thorne as Doctor Chakwas' triage zone. More were trudging through the snow, following the orders I'd relayed to the private.

"Any sign of Shepard?" Garrus asked once as soon as we were in range. Tali and Liara worked in the background, under Doctor Chakwas' careful direction. Dome enviro tents were already set up in neat circles just to the left of triage. A larger canopy was forming above the injured, blocking the wind and snow first. The secondary objective was warmth.

I shook my head as I clambored the rest of the way up the hill, assisting the marines behind me as soon as my feet had solid footing beneath them. The turian's face was an emotionless mask. "Until we've located her, I'm assuming command. Unless Pressly's been found."

It was the turian's turn to shake his head, mandibles flaring outward in what I'd come to recognize as the turian equivalent of pinched lips and lowered brow. The situation was rapidly descending from shitty to bottom-of-the-latrine, knee-deep-in-crap horrible.

Tali limped over, her omni-tool casting a harsh orange glow across the ground, and said, "Another pod just landed beyond the ridge to our east." Her breath came out in ragged gasps through the speaker in her helmet. "About 3 kilometers out. Five pods are located on the way. The farthest three have only made voice contact, one of them has multiple injured and requires assistance."

"You need to rest, Tali," Garrus said. "If you've sustained a suit rupture -"

"I haven't detected any ruptures on my hardsuit computer." Tali's body language spoke volumes about her opinion on the topic.

Garrus wasn't going to tolerate it. "Ruptures or no, you're injured. You shouldn't be moving about until you've received medical attention."

"You need to go see Doctor Chakwas," I interjected before the conversation dissolved further. "As soon as Doctor Chakwas clears you, I need you to setup a distress beacon. The Alliance should be here soon, and they're going to need to know where we are. If you can, see what you can do about setting up communications. But the beacon is your top priority. Utilize whatever assistance, gear, and tech you need." I rotated, effectively dismissing the quarian. I knew she'd follow orders, despite the fact that I wasn't Shepard and not technically qualified to tell her what to do. But Tali wasn't stupid. "Garrus, you're with me. We're going to assemble a team to get the rest of the crew here."

I scanned the small camp that had sprung up around us. Emergency shelters were already in place, along with hazard gear for those unlucky enough to have been caught in the showers or the sleeping pods when the attack began. Thermal heaters were already melting the snow in their perimeter, revealing the slick rocky surface beneath. I picked out two more capable marines to assist the search and rescue operation.

"Lieutenant?" Doctor Chakwas called. Her eyes asked the question she dared not put to voice. Liara stood next to her wearing a makeshift smock to protect her uniform. Her eyes repeated the same question.

"Garrus and I are mounting a search party for other pods. We'll direct anyone we find to this location. Take care of injured Doc." I didn't want to face what Shepard not appearing yet might mean. If Joker was injured, she wouldn't dare leave him alone. She'd wait for backup. Partially because she wouldn't be able to support Joker's weight in these conditions without a stretcher, and partially because perhaps she'd slammed back one too many shots with the pilot.

We directed the survivors to the encampment, assisting in setting up stretchers and applying medigel to wounds immediately requiring attention. A few of the marines had died from wounds sustained on the _Normandy_ after escaping into the pods. Our situation was bleak, and a knot formed in the pit of my stomach. I couldn't shake the feeling that something more terrible was ahead for us. Perhaps the unknown assailant would organize a search and destroy, biding their time as they waited for the perfect opportunity to strike.

I shut down that line of thinking before it had time to fester the seed of paranoia in my brain.

We crested another ridge and saw the final pod just below the precipice, half buried in the snow. The hull still glowed a dull red from entering the atmosphere, the metal popping as it rapidly cooled. The pod had landed on its back, hatch facing the sky. Which either meant that the landing struts had failed, or the occupants hadn't been capable of engaging the landing sequence. You only needed one person to fly a pod. Just one. The controls were crammed onto one tiny console. It could be operated with one hand. If the panel wasn't live, manual controls could be accessed through a panel beneath the console.

I tested the hull against my hand. Warm, but not hot. Within tolerance. Garrus boosted me up and I pried the hatch open, my breath catching in my throat.

"Joker," I choked out. The pilot opened his eyes. He was sprawled half-in his seat, one leg bent in the wrong direction in a sad mockery of quarian physiology. Blood ran down the side of his face from a nasty gash that would need immediate medical attention. He moved his lips, but I was too far away to hear him through the sounds of the hull settling as it cooled. I hoisted myself into the hatch, pausing to look down at Garrus. "We're going to need a stretcher. Notify Doctor Chakwas that we'll need an immediate medical assist with Joker. He's in bad shape."

The turian stood still. "Alenko..." he began, but I didn't let him finish.

"Get the Doctor on the comm. Now."

Garrus stood silent for a moment before nodding and turning away, raising his hand to the comm chip embedded in his ear.

I dropped down into the pod. "What happened?" I asked him, checking his vitals with my omni-tool. Eleven broken bones, thirteen fractures, one punctured lung, erratic heartbeat and internal bleeding. The harness was wrapped around one arm, probably the only reason he was still alive. He'd never made it fully into the seat - or if he had, there hadn't been enough time to strap in.

Joker closed his eyes, pain flashing across his face. "She's gone."

-K-

"That night under the stars as we watched the _Normandy_ burn across the sky etched itself into my memory forever. I dream about it. The sense of loss hasn't diminished. Sometimes, I can still feel Shepard's touch, the cool whisper of her breath against my skin, the feel of her hair against my cheek. I can still smell her scent as if she were just around the corner.

"Sometimes, I forget she's gone, and I glance up to grab her attention, to tell her some small bit of news. To hear her laugh at some lame joke I'd heard." I closed my eyes, trying to picture her smile. "She always appreciated my dry sense of humor. Was amused by my tendency to say something before realizing I'd just inserted my foot in my mouth.

"But then I remember, and I'm crouched inside Joker's pod all over again, listening to him tell me how the Collector's came around for another attack, not satisfied with simply disabling the ship. How an explosion knocked her away from the doors just as she hoisted Joker into the pod. How Joker screamed for her, and her defiant stare as she stretched out a hand and hit the button to eject his pod right before the _Normandy_ was destroyed."

I unclenched my fist and opened my eyes. Her smile remained painted in my vision. Blue eyes and soft lips, curved in the warm smile she'd always reserved for me.

"Should I have listened to her? Or should I have defied her, stayed with her? Survivor's guilt, a 'what if' that has plagued me ever since she died. I love her. I'll never stop loving her. This pain will never diminish, because I'll never be able to fill the gaping hole she left behind."

The silence that followed seemed to echo throughout the room as what I said settled in. The air felt heavier, the sunlight darker. My heart weighed down on me, sinking into the depths of my soul.

"Start at the beginning, Commander Alenko," Doctor Wyatt said.

I looked over at him from the therapist's chair. "It's a long story."

"I have all day," he replied.

I turned my face back to the ceiling, grasping the memories of Eden Prime and painting them onto the white surface of the room.

"After a few days of leave, I finally received orders from a corporal..." I started, diving into the ocean of Commander Shepard and the _Normandy_, letting my tale come out in all of its raw emotion. My heart beat in tune to my words, remembering Shepard as she first stepped onto the ship, her dark brown hair brushing against her cheeks, the lights of the airlock reflecting in her deep blue eyes.


	2. Kaidan vs The Orders

**Kaidan vs The Orders**

-K-

"Delivery, sir," the Corporal handed me an encrypted datapad and saluted. Alliance high command. A datapad I'd expected since given the order that I was being transferred to a different posting yesterday morning. The _Tacoma_ had docked at Arcturus early after to deposit my ass aboard the station awaiting orders of my new posting. Though I would never admit it, Jake's surprise visit was a good distraction against the growing anticipation. I dismissed the Corporal and he turned on his heel and left.

"This what brought you to Arcturus?" Jake asked. I swiped the button to shut the door to my apartment and entered my security clearance into the pad. The screen flashed, confirming my ID and the data uploaded.

"Let's find out," I flopped onto the sofa next to Jake and he handed me a beer. "Report to the _SSV Normandy_ for duty tomorrow 0800 hours, docking bay D-14. Head of marine detail... etc."

Jake lit up at the name of the ship. "Shit, Kaidan! You realize that's the new prototype turian-Alliance ship I was telling you about a few weeks ago?"

"I'll be damned." As a matter of fact, I _did_ remember Jake nattering on about the latest and greatest of the Alliance fleet. Joint turian-human endeavor as a show of peace and reconciliation between our species. The proverbial olive branch disguised as a high-tech ship, with the Alliance displaying an uncharacteristic bit of humility by redesigning a prototype frigate with turian enhancements, thereby acknowledging the prowess of the turian fleet. The details had been classified up to high heaven, but my new posting granted me full access to the ships specifications, right down to the nitty gritty details of how each deck was reiterated. Something I planned to look over thoroughly later this evening.

"You lucky sonofabitch."

"You could apply for a posting," I suggested, and took a sip of the heady beer Jake had brought along.

"I did," he slumped into the back of the sofa and took a deep draw from his bottle. "Request denied. When did you submit yours?"

"I didn't." I scanned the contents of the pad, looking for exactly how I _had_ come by this new position. "Captain Anderson requested me."

He sighed dramatically, "It's your golden record." I kicked his ankle. "Not to mention your brains. Probably only want smart people for this mission. Who's the XO? Does it say?"

I navigated to the list of personnel and my jaw nearly dropped when I read the name. "Lieutenant-Commander Olivia J. Shepard."

"Stop frakking with me, Kaidan. Shepard's posted on the _Singapore_. Some journalist cornered her for a spot two weeks ago. N's don't move around lightly."

"Not anymore." I showed him Shepard's name on the pad and he gaped, the lip of his bottle dangling at the edge of his mouth. I tapped the bottom of it with my hand, sending the bottle bumping into his face and he smirked and rolled his eyes.

"You realize you're gonna be working with a legend, right? A real damn legend."

I leaned against the sofa, perching the datapad on a knee as I scanned the rest of the contents. Only 15 more hours of shore leave until I had to report to duty aboard the most advanced ship in the fleet. Prototype deep scout frigate equipped with state of the art IES stealth technology. Tantalaus drive core. Co-developed with the Turian Hierarchy, sponsored by the Citadel Council. CIC designed by the turians. I'd been on a few turian ships during my service. Back of the deck Command post instead of forward, something that would take some getting used to. Marine detail command meant duty rosters and duty assignments in the down time between missions. Tech specialist granted me the illustrious position of maintaining the bridge communications grid.

Mission details were flagged as classified, to be revealed once aboard the _Normandy._ Interesting.

"... veins with ice. One glance is enough to freeze you in your boots."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Commander Shepard. You realize she held off a _platoon_ of batarians and slavers on Elysium for 26 hours straight, without backup? Woman's made of cold, hard steel. If you weren't so picture perfect in your duties, I'd tell you to watch your ass with that one. She could make or break your career," Jake rattled on. "She's an N7. Might get your ass handed to you if you so much as breathe wrong."

"I doubt it," I countered and flipped the pad on the table. "Want to head out to Changs? I could kill for some curry right now."

"Sure. Do you think she's already on the station?"

"Looking for a date?"

Jake punched me in the arm as we exited the apartment and I keyed in the code lock. "I want something warm in my bed, mate."

I changed the topic as we walked down the wide hallway towards the residential restaurants, open to everyone aboard the station and not just marines. "Have you checked out the latest Logic Arrest model?"

"You'll never turn me to the dark side, Kaidan. Might as well give up now."

"I might buy one. Syncs with the shield generators for more efficient output." I nudged Jake in the ribs. "Besides, I got you to say 'dark side.' I think there's still hope."

"Piss off."

Changs seating area was overflowing with people, so I led Jake to the takeout counter and scanned the menu while we waited for a break in the line. Hilda, an older server who'd worked at Changs since before my first posting, scooted down the grill line and smiled warmly at me. I pressed the menu onto the counter and slid it towards her, rattling off an order of enough curry and spring rolls for two. She swiped my chit and pinched my cheek.

"Need to keep up those calories, or that handsome face will be all bones. Girls don't like their men bony."

Jake pushed up next to me and said, "Girls don't like Kaidan."

Hilda sniffed dismissively. "Girls don't like their men pretty, either. You? Too pretty. Get a scar, then we'll talk."

"I don't fancy a fist to the face," Jake retorted before ordering a much smaller meal. Biotic caloric intake was 2.5 times higher than the average marine diet. The energy to produce mass effect fields had to come from somewhere - and that energy had to be maintained. A lot of biotics tended to be smaller than average because of the amount of energy required, but I focused on heavy training so I could escape the confines of light armor in favor of the greater protection offered by medium armor. I wasn't about to start carrying around a shotgun, though.

After we got our food, we found a bench on the catwalk overlooking the docking bays below for incoming freighters. Crews mingled on the boardwalk, passing datapads and directing cargo to holding cells for delivery. Others were down there, checking for packages out for delivery hoping to get something early. Another marine was seated on the other side of the bench, omni-tool casting an orange glow on her face.

"Mind if we sit?" Jake asked, balancing a hot spring roll between fingers.

The marine gestured to the open space around. "Bench is open."

Jake grinned at her, but she appeared wholly engrossed in whatever she was working on and ignored him. He nudged me as we sat down, licking the sauce off his fingers. "Bet you can't guess what model she's using."

I checked out the omni before sitting down. "It's a Savant."

"You just made that up."

"Like you would know. If someone shoved a Savant in your face, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between it and the Bluewire you still use."

"Doesn't mean you didn't make it up."

"It's a tech-based omni-tool, designed for quick application of enemy sabotage and hacking into wireless networks on the field. You can tell by the modal dial on the outer ring."

"Too much brains for your own good. No wonder you got reassigned. Maybe it's a crew of _geeks_."

"Mmmm," I grunted around a mouthful of curry. "Geeks united."

I polished off the last of the curry and opened up my box of spring rolls. Delicious, mouth-watering smells only Changs was truly capable of creating escaped in a wave of steam. I stuffed one in my mouth, savoring the rich flavor. Jake leaned back on the bench next to me and called out to the the woman sitting a few feet away, omni still live. "Is that a Savant?"

She lifted her head to face him and glanced at me. I shrugged apologetically. "It's a Savant," she replied, arching an eyebrow at Jake.

"Frak me," Jake sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Thanks." The marine flung herself back against the bench and resumed her ministrations. "Guess you win that one, mate."

"Geeks united."

I opened my omni, checking the posting for _Normandy_. Already had a message from Anderson concerning a launch ceremony for _Normandy's_ first flight. Tomorrow evening at 1800 hours, dress blues required. Another from the XO requesting a meeting with the ground team once everyone was aboard the ship to go over tactics and strategy. And finally one from my Dad, congratulating me on my new post. I exited the message system and opened up a program I'd been working on. The numbers were still running in the background, data analysis at 87%. I grinned.

"What time is it?" I shoved my omni in his face as a reply, and he pushed my arm away. "I've got to run soon. Back to the _Agincourt_. We leave for patrol at 1900."

I nodded. Jake and I rarely spent time together since our postings had taken us in different directions. He'd been my one real friend during basic and through my first couple postings with the Alliance. We'd survived 7 ground missions together, 2 of which were raids against pirate gangs operating on the edges of the Attican Traverse. On the rare occasion that both our ships docked at Arcturus at the same time, we made a point to grab a beer and food, and hit the gym together for a game of tennis. Jake didn't seem bothered by the fact that I was an L2, was never on the lookout for the glint of crazy that signalled I'd gone off the deep end. Not that many marines I'd encountered actually treated me as if I were a freak to be monitored at all times. Alliance soldiers were more accepting of biotics than the general public. But most kept their distance, especially those that didn't understand. All Jake had ever accused me of was using my talents to cheat at tennis.

"Not in port very long."

"Personnel transfer, refueling, resupplying. New armory specialist coming aboard, with a new line of guns. CO didn't want to lollygag, gave us a few hours reprieve." He glanced at me. "Don't tell me you're going to shut yourself in your apartment with your omni-tool after I leave."

"Fine, I'll keep the door open."

"Last night before heading out on a new posting, and you're going to stick it inside?"

"Going out is overrated."

"You could hit the courts."

"Playing tennis with the wall is not as fun as you'd like to believe. Especially if the wall beats you."

"Do like our friend here, and at least play with your geek toys outside."

The marine shifted on the bench, cursing under her breath at something on her display. Her fingers whirred through the dials once more. I sighed and nodded. Jake wouldn't understand that I actually enjoyed staying inside playing with my "geek toys." But since I didn't have a migraine and this was my last night of leave before having to report for duty on a new prototype Alliance vessel, there really wasn't any reason I couldn't read up on the specs of the ship out here in the relatively open space instead of shuttered in my bunk. Jake grinned triumphantly and stood up.

"So long, mate. We won't be docking here again for at least a month. Heading out onto the edge of the traverse to patrol along the borders. Heard some rumors of increased slaver activity, and the higher ups want us to check it out."

"Go where the brass tells you," I grinned at Jake. "Take care."

He saluted me and I chuckled, shaking my head. He peered over at the quietly cursing marine. "See you 'round, soldier. Make sure my friend stays on the bench for at least 5 minutes."

She glanced up at him and eyed his lapel. "It's Commander, _2nd_ Lieutenant." I stifled a laugh as Jake paled. "And your friend looks like a big boy. I think he can take care of himself."

"Yes ma'am," Jake said, walking backwards and away from us. I waved at him to move his ass, then opened my omni to access the records of the _Normandy_. I poured through the data-files, reading up on the IES stealth system. There was only one pilot I could think of who'd be qualified to fly a prototype war-bird and sure enough, when I cross-referenced the name against the crew manifest my suspicions were confirmed. In fact, a lot of the names on the crew manifest stuck out as a little _too_ qualified. I furrowed my brow, a tingling sensation tickling at the nape of my neck. I swept a hand over the port at the base of my skull, absent-mindedly checking the seal.

I sucked in a breath as I read that a Council Spectre would be joining our operation for an unspecified length of time. Whatever our mission was was anything but simple. Two N7's, both decorated like Christmas trees in a shopping mall, a Spectre, the best pilot in the Alliance fleet, the best Navigator in the Navy, and up-and-coming tech specialists working across engineering and the CIC. Not to mention myself. My career with the Alliance hadn't exactly gone unnoticed, nor had my not inconsiderable talents. I'd been given the benefit of scanning my psych profile once and saw the words "controlled" and "reliable" stamped across the top in big letters.

Now I really couldn't wait to find out exactly what the mission was. I lowered my omni-tool and stared off at nothing in particular, mulling over various things in my head. This new posting presented an amazing opportunity to work with some of the best in the Alliance, but I couldn't resist the nagging feeling that there was a catch. It was rare for 2 N7's to be posted on the same vessel, unless some heavy operation was underway. In which case, my posting would be both a curse and a blessing. Amazing opportunity for advancement provided the op was a success. A curse because undoubtedly said op would come with so many strings, loopholes, and roots sticking up that succeeding would be difficult.

Or I could just be paranoid. Something I'm sure Jake would have accused me of by now were he still present to watch me ponder. It could be something as simple as wanting the best to work on a prototype frigate to ensure that any frak ups that could happen would be contained.

"You don't have to stick around," a voice said, interrupting me out of my thoughts. I looked around and saw that the marine - Commander - was still sitting on the bench. She wasn't looking in my direction, but no one else was close enough to have spoken. Besides, no one else would have known to say that. "I won't tell."

"Thanks," I replied, "I might hold you to that." I shuffled my omni closer to my face and reopened my messages and wrote out a quick response to my new XO confirming my availability for a ground team meeting the following day, followed by a quick message to my Dad. I wasn't sure how he'd found out so quickly, but nor was I surprised that he had. I ended the message asking after Mom and whether or not he still liked his job in Vancouver now that he was 'retired'. Retirement for Dad consisted of no longer serving ship-side. He was still very much active concerning the Alliance.

Business complete, I closed my tool and glanced around. I might have enough time to catch the _Agincourt_ take off if I hoofed it to the docking bay. I could even take a photo and append it with a sarcastic message to send to Jake. He'd get a laugh. _Tourism for dummies_.

"Huh, prompt," the marine muttered on the bench. I spared a glance for her as I stood up. She glanced up at me with an uncanny ability to sense that I was looking in her direction.

"Take care," I said, and she gave me a lopsided half-smile in return.

"Not saying your friend is right but being outside really isn't that bad."

I shrugged. "No guarantees, but I'll stave off the desire to sequester myself like a hermit for at least an hour."

"If you're shipping out tomorrow, should make it two. Never know when the next shore leave comes around."

"That why you're outside?" I leaned against the edge of the bench, not wanting to sit down again, but I felt a little awkward towering over someone I was talking to. Especially when that someone appeared to be on the smaller side of the spectrum.

"Yeah, ship leaves dock tomorrow morning."

"Well," I pushed away from the bench and backed up a few steps. "Good luck out there. And good hunting."

"Right back at ya'," she answered and buried her face back into her omni-tool.

I turned on my heel and began walking away. Approximately 15 minutes until the _Agincourt_ launched. And my favorite coffee shop was along the way. There was something soothing about watching the traffic of spaceships coming in and out of dock while drinking a nice, hot cup of coffee.


	3. Kaidan vs The Commander

**Kaidan vs The Commander**

-K-

The _Normandy_ was everything she was made out to be and more. The tour Adams had given me of engineering had left me sufficiently drooling in geek bliss, revelling at how the size of the core could seemingly fit into such a small ship. Joker must be having a hay day up on the bridge, like a little kid who'd gotten everything they could have asked for and more come Christmas day. I'd already heard muttered jokes about his girl having a large behind, affecting the balance of the ship, followed up by remarks about how it was nothing he couldn't handle and anyone who thought otherwise could come have a go and he'd break an arm at them. I'd carefully maintained a neutral expression during the tour, despite the urge to get my hands dirty and take a look at the parts that kept the heart of the ship beating in the perfect symphony of technology. Engineer crews could be touchy when it came to outsiders interfering with their carefully mapped calibrations and maintenance schedules, and too many tools with lethal applications had been lying around for comfort.

Perhaps being stationed on the bridge wouldn't be as bad as previously anticipated, considering it wasn't everyday that someone got to ride shotgun on a prototype warbird with an over-sized drive core clocked to perfection and IES stealth technology effectively making the ship invisible, unless someone actually looked out a window. Fortunately, most vessel detection systems were done via sensor-nets and radar, not good old-fashioned scopes. Joker's shenanigans were worth a front row seat to a prototype frigates first launch.

The elevator hummed to a stop and I exited onto the crew deck, seeking out the sleeper pod maintenance console. The Captain was in his cabin, door open. Commander Shepard was ostensibly in there with him, going over XO to Captain details prior to takeoff, expectations, and last minute instructions. I'd missed her appearance on the bridge, much to Joker's dismay, as I'd been wholly engrossed in the cargo hold with the Alliance requisitions officer, going over the armory's supply and stowing my gear in my locker. I'd been pleasantly surprised by his readiness in anticipating my needs as a biotic. He'd stocked various solutions for jack-cleaning and had them all ready for me to inspect.

Most biotics knew better than to rely on ship-side requisitions to get what they needed for maintenance. I always carried extra solution and a back-up amp in case of cascading power failure. The Alliance only carried basic amps, but it was nice to have something else to fall back on in case a mission went horribly awry and both my amps were fried. Something not entirely out of the realm of possibilities. Alliance grade amps, while they functioned about as well as dirt did as fuel, would be a good enough crutch in a pinch until we docked.

Next on my list was to check in with Doctor Chakwas, to ensure that high-grade migraine meds were available, or could be made available before we left port. Most of the ground team still had to check in, but once they did, the Commander would call us in for a meeting. Operating under an N7 was going to be a novel experience for most, if not all of us. Likely the Commander wanted to get questions out of the way, go over her expectations of the ground team, which would likely be more intense and demanding that any of my previous postings. It was also just good practice to get to know the people you'd be fighting alongside - because sooner or later, they'd have your life in their hands. Trust was a fundamental aspect to being a marine, and we learned to trust those that had our backs.

I found the sleeper pod station and loaded my program via my omni-tool. A few customs songs for the long nights preceding missions, and the ability to increase the window darkening as added protection against migraines and the photophobia that usually accompanied them.

"Lieutenant Alenko." I stood to attention as the Captain rounded the corner, the Commander right behind him. "At ease. Settling in all right?"

"Yes, sir."

The Commander rounded the corner, coming into full view... and I realized she was the marine who'd been sitting on the bench last night, in full-on omni geek out mode. I also realized, with a wave of dread - but not the bad kind, more the preparing-you-for-the-worst kind - that when she'd muttered, "prompt," at her omni-tool, she'd probably just received the message I'd just written sitting about 5 feet away and sent to her. It was weird being able to look back on something so innocuous at the time to see it for what it really was. And what it really was was praise accompanied by pleasant surprise. Either because she hadn't expected anyone to get back before their leave was up or they'd returned to their apartments from a long night of drinking, or because she'd read my file, had formed a baseline opinion, and had that shattered. Or perhaps, more simply, it was because I'd responded relatively quickly.

After all, I'd been sitting on a bench, staring at cargo freight deliveries. Responding to messages had been as good a thing to do as any.

I saluted Commander Shepard and she saluted me back the way a lazy predator might flick its tail, deciding that you weren't its desired prey.

"This is Commander Shepard. Commander, Staff-Lieutenant Alenko."

The Commander proffered her hand, and I accepted with a succinct, "Ma'am." Commander Shepard's hand was warmer than I'd anticipated. The hero of Elysium wasn't exactly the type of legend a marine expected to come face to face with, even when said marine knew in advance that his XO was said legend. News vids had followed her career for weeks following the Blitz, declaring Shepard the new ideal of what it meant to be an Alliance marine. Enlisting rates had peaked higher than they had following the First Contact War, as more people decided they wanted to join in order to have the opportunity to become their own Commander Shepard - an ideal that most of them were probably learning now wouldn't happen, because situations like the Blitz were fortunately a rare occurrence, and not something the Alliance encountered on a regular basis. Later interviews were hard to come by since Shepard seemed to always be on the prowl, never in one location for long. But that didn't stop the media from speculating about exactly what type of woman it would take to single-handedly defend a colony from a pirate attack. Opinions had ranged from 'cold-blooded' to 'harsh and 'determined' to 'brave.'

Now the hero of Elysium stood before me, I found myself paying attention to the sort of details that others might miss were they in my position. For instance, she was shorter than the vids made her out to be. Or perhaps the force of her personality magnified her stature. She also had a liquid bandage supplemented with sutures running two inches diagonally across the inner side of her left wrist. The skin around it was the light pink of a recently healed laceration, not the angry red of a fresh one, suggesting she'd sustained it within the last week prior to transferring to the _Normandy_. Which meant something had hit/scraped/stabbed her with enough force so as to break through the layers of armor to get to her skin, and she'd deflected the blow with her arm so as to not sustain the injury to a more serious location. Or she hadn't seen the lacerating instrument. Something I considered to be of low probability considering the keen intelligence behind her eyes and the deliberate way she held herself as if to suggest that she was perfectly aware of the position of every single person in this room and, if pressed, could nail each one with a perfect head-shot without breaking a sweat.

I raised my eyes back to her face and found her staring back at me with a look I couldn't quite identify, her blue eyes boring into my own. They were imbued with a level of honesty that took my breath away, and sent my brain reeling with the intensity of her gaze. My lips parted to form the gasp that almost escaped before my frontal lobe took the wheel back from the lizard brain and steered me clear of the "making a fool of yourself in front of the XO" path.

"_Crisis averted!" _a little voice cried in my head. "_Damage control, people!"_

Shepard swivelled to look at Anderson and said, "We've met, actually. Last night, near the civilian docks." She turned back to face me, and the momentary lapse in eye contact did wonders for my ability to not make an ass of myself. "Did you revert to a level of hermit heretofore unseen by the local population?"

It suddenly struck me that treating Commander Shepard as the living legend, the hero of Elysium, a one-man army against the slaver gangs of the terminus systems was the wrong approach. Because here she stood before me, and she was so very clearly _human_. Why that realization suddenly struck me dumb was beyond even my own comprehension, but there it was. She wasn't a heroic icon made of ice, with venom running through her veins, spitting war-axes of unquantifiable ass-kicking proportions, she was just another soldier, doing her job. She simply did it in a spectacular fashion.

Though perhaps the bit about the war-axes was true.

"Happy to report that I handed over my hermit ID and managed to enjoy the civilian docks for a few hours before resorting to solitude, Commander."

"Mmm. I guess that makes me a hypocrite. I most certainly _did_ revert to a state of hermit heretofore unseen by the locals. Perhaps we could save some resources, and you could simply hand me your card."

"I'll grab it from my locker later. It's buried beneath my weight in tech."

Anderson palmed his forehead, a long-suffering smile plastered on his face. "I should have known, Shepard, that you would get along with this one. Stick two techs together, and suddenly the conversation is about the latest mods, omni-tools, and who spent the most time sitting in the dark in their rooms, surfing the extranet for the latest model of their favorite gadget."

Shepard offered a half-grin as her eyes sparkled with that blunt honesty and she said, "Geeks united."

"Admitting you have a problem is the first step in recovery, Shepard. I'm glad you've taken this step. It must be difficult."

Shepard forestalled further words by holding up her hand, shaking her head. "Geek isn't a condition, Captain. It's a state of being."

I decided to throw the Commander a bone, forming a line of defense against the Captain in the quiet hours before we were all burdened by duty. "One does not simply walk into geekdom, sir."

Shepard finished for me. "One _charges_."

"Headlong into the fray of cables, mods, and terrible sci-fi vids."

Captain Anderson shook his head, looking from Shepard to myself. "I'll just let you two... do whatever geeks do when others aren't looking and they're left to their own devices. Shepard, if you need me, and preferably after you've settled down, I'll be in my office."

"Sure thing."

Anderson vacated, mumbling to himself. I caught snitches of "geeks" and "frak me" as he rounded the corner before he was sufficiently out of range for his words to carry.

After a momentary silence, Shepard turned back to look at me, head tilted to one side. "So you can really tell what kind of omni-tool someone is using just by looking at it?"


	4. Kaidan vs The Transmission

**Kaidan vs The Transmission**

-K-

"We are connected.." Joker announced, his voice echoing behind us on the ship's comm as we synced with the relay network, waiting for alignment. Approval from the routing hub lit up my screen and I tapped my fingers rapidly across the holographic display, checking the weapons lock and power systems. All clear. A quiet murmur accompanied by the sound of shuffling feet captured my attention, and I glanced back to see the Commander joining us on the bridge. I was further surprised to see that Nihlus was already present. The Spectre had the skills of cat when it came to entering unnoticed, a skill which undoubtedly served him well as Spectre for the Council. Infiltrating enemy compounds by himself begged the necessity of a set of stealth skills rivaled only by a ninja. "Calculating mass and transit destination."

I returned my focus to the console. The relay went live as we entered its envelope and the destination corridor was finalized. "The relay is hot; acquiring approach vector. All stations, secure for transit."

I braced myself for the uncomfortable sensation of entering a mass relay corridor that I held above the unpleasant hypnogogic jerk. The sudden belly drop accompanied by the feeling that you left part of yourself behind, followed by the sudden realization that no, a part of you just _lagged_ and is now returning back forcefully as the relay spits you out in some other part of the galaxy definitely ranked higher than watching an episode of _Sex in the Citadel_ on the scale of terrible things to avoid at all cost.

"Hitting the relay in 3... 2... 1," Joker rattled off as he maneuvered the ship into the relay's mass effect field. I monitored the power flow throughout the ship. Bright, violet light filled the cockpit and my stomach lurched as the light-years screamed past us in the flash of an eye. As suddenly as it had begun, it ended. Goosebumps prickled along my skin as the mass effect envelope dissipated.

"Thrusters... check. Navigation... check. Internal emissions sink engaged. All systems online. Drift... just under 1500 K," Joker finished.

"1500 is good. Your captain will be pleased," Nihlus commented from directly behind me.

"I hate that guy," Joker sighed once Nihlus left the cockpit.

"Nihlus gave you a compliment," I shook my head. While I understood the reasoning behind Joker's dislike of the turian, his remark smacked of simply dislike without a drop of professional opinion behind it. The turian Spectre's reasoning for being aboard was as of yet undisclosed intel with a surface explanation provided that the Council was here to simply oversee their investment. The investment, of course, being the ship. Why it took a Council Spectre was another reason entirely.

"You remember to zip your jumpsuit up on the way out of the bathroom? That's good. I just jumped us halfway across the galaxy and hit a target the size of a pinhead. So that's incredible! Besides, Spectres are trouble. I don't like having him on board. Call me paranoid."

"You're paranoid. The council helped fund this project. They have a right to send someone to keep an eye on their investment." It was evident that his irritation with Nihlus had nothing to do with his position and everything to do with his remark about Joker's skill.

"Yeah, that is the official story. But only an idiot believes the official story," Joker shot back, his words echoing the sentiment rattling around my head.

"They don't send Spectres on shakedown runs," Shepard interjected, saving me from having to come up with a retort on my own. I silently thanked her for allowing me the opportunity to save face.

"There's more going on here than the Captain's letting on."

I arched an eyebrow as Joker peered at me. He stabbed his thumb at Shepard, hiding the action from her with his torso, followed by a thumbs up, expressing his opinion of the Commander. My earlier assessment about the bridge posting maybe being not so bad was clearly wrong, as Joker's witticisms had been sharpened to a razor-like edge over the years. The cockpit was turning into a cesspool of dancing a fine line between regs with Joker in the pilot's seat. He may be the best damned pilot in the fleet, and someone I'd willingly admit to calling a friend, but his antics ranked among high on my list of things that made me facepalm.

I shook my head, and noticed out of the corner of my eye that Shepard was looking in my direction thoughtfully. My brain revved into second gear as I took in her form, hips cocked to the side as she leaned against the back of Joker's chair using her elbow for leverage, one foot tucked over the other with the booted toe pointed at the ground. Her eyes refocused on mine. There was that odd look again. The one she'd given me when we first met down at the sleeper pod console, a look I couldn't quite identify, but felt like I should be able to.

She nodded at me, and offered a lopsided smile before jerking her head at Joker. Despite his careful hiding of the thumb-stabbing, she hadn't missed it. And she thought it was hilarious.

I stared back at her, then nodded once, a tiny half-grin pulling at the corner of my mouth.

"_Joker. Status report_," Anderson demanded over the comm.

Joker's hands flew across the control panels. "Just cleared the mass relay, Captain. Stealth system's engaged. Everything looks solid."

"_Good, find a comm buoy and link us into the network. I want mission reports relayed back to the Alliance brass before we reach Eden Prime._" Joker waved his two forefingers at me and I contacted the comm. network, syncing with the nearest bouy, authenticating with the _Normandy's_ ID code. The bouy gave me the all clear and I loaded the package into its datastream for transmission, mission priority: high.

"Aye aye, Captain. Better brace yourself, sir. I think Nihlus is headed your way."

I exchanged an amused glance with the Commander.

"_He's already here, Lieutenant_," Anderson answered, clearly _not_ amused that one of his Lieutenants would offer such an opinion over the comm. system that smacked of intolerance - even if that intolerance was meant to be light-hearted and Joker really only wanted to express that he simply didn't approve of the Spectre's presence, and not the Spectre himself. "_Tell Commander Shepard to meet me in the comm. room for a debriefing._"

"I'm on my way," Shepard replied. She slapped the back of Joker's chair before exiting.

Eden Prime swelled before us as we approached the system, appearing as a small blue marble, no bigger than my thumb and rapidly growing in size. Joker handled the ship deftly, gliding her in smooth and quiet. I kept a wary eye out for anything amiss, be it aboard ship or external. The feeling of something _not-quite-right_ itched between my shoulders. I double checked that the stealth systems were engaged. Then I checked again.

_Paranoid_. I mentally checked myself.

Eden Prime dominated the wide view-port. There was that feeling again. Like the feeling of being watched, yet... not. Nothing on the scanners. The _itch_ returned, and I futilely scratched at the sensitive area around my headjack. The _itch_ didn't go away.

"You seem antsy," Joker observed, sparing me a glance.

"Something doesn't feel right..." I started to say and was interrupted by an incoming transmission from Eden Prime.

"Joker, you might want to alert the captain about-"

"Already on it," he replied, pushing buttons on his console. "Uh, Captain, you might want to take a look at this," he said, relaying the transmission to them in the comm. room as the footage began playing on our vid screen.

Without waiting for approval, Joker relayed the signal to the comm. room. There was silence on both ends of the comm. channel as each set of officers watched events unfold on screen.

A soldier stood in the foreground, firing on an unseen enemy. Suddenly, she charged the camera, shouting, "Get down!" She pushed him to the ground and provided cover fire.

The camera tilted rapidly, resting against the charred grass. The image flickered wildly as the camera was knocked about, a constant stream of gunfire and screams distorted the audio. The image finally resolved, focusing on the bodies of dead marines that littered the ground. Gunfire still sounded hot over the transmission.

The camera jolted again and focused on an officer. "We are under attack! Taking heavy casualties. I repeat: heavy casualties! We can't... -argh!" The view shook, distorted. The officer gripped his helmet. "-eed evac!" The officer appeared to recover. Both he and the camera operator stood. "They came out of nowhere. We need-" 

The soldier reeled back, and the screen was spattered with blood. The sound of gunfire distant and infrequent, now.

I cut my attention from the screen and focused on my terminal. We needed to locate the source of that transmission, confirm the location. There! Less than a klick away from the spaceport where we'd originally planned to dock. Likely that spaceport was now overrun by... by what? There was no indication about who or what was attacking Eden Prime.

The signal distorted again, cutting out after an instant of sheer, static chaos. I glanced up just in time see the video feed go blank. The audio mercifully went with it.

"Everything cuts out after that," Joker confirmed to the Captain before the Captain could pose the question. "No comm. traffic at all. Just goes dead. There's nothing."

"_Reverse and hold at 38.5."_ I obliged, seeking out the desired frame. It portrayed a dreadnought of impossible proportions, breaking atmo - another seemingly impossible feat considering its massive size. This one frame contained many impossibilities my brain argued couldn't possibly be being presented to me, with my eyes countering that argument with a quiet, but very vehement _well shit, we're looking at it._

My fingers slid to my headjack at the base of my skull, thoughts drifting to my locker down in the cargo-hold.

"Alenko," Shepard shouted as she marched up the gangway. The previous musical quality to her voice was supplanted with the brisker marine voice. "Report to the hangar deck and suit up."

"Aye aye, m'am," I said, rising from my station. I gave the vidscreen one last glance before I followed her to the elevator. This mission just got a whole lot more interesting. My only hope was that the 'classified' aspects would be made privy to the ground team. Knowing what we were fighting to achieve would go a long way in overcoming not knowing what we were fighting against.


	5. Kaidan vs Eden Prime

**Kaidan vs Eden Prime**

-K-

Drop Point Two put us at the edge of a glade cresting the side of a large hill. Thick smoke rose from the horizon, transforming the skyline into the reddish murk of dirty water. The air was bitter with the taste smoke and death. I said as much after the first whiff of air smacked me in the face, earning a sharp frown from Jenkins. Wipe away the death and destruction, and I could almost see what had made this planet known around the galaxy as "garden world." Colorful plants; full, rich colors; a deep blue sky (only visible from our six); and lively terrain. Terrain that, judging from the readings on my omni-tool, was going to work against us. Our destination lay on the other side of the large hill directly in front of us. Approaching over the hill would be suicide.

Jenkins pointed out the planet's sites as we trekked down the narrow path, assessing our options. Between the unanticipated attack and the noticeable lack of communication with the garrison stationed at Eden Prime, we didn't have much to work off of. The only information we could count on was whatever Nihlus chose to feed us via the comm. Otherwise, the pervading order was radio silence.

Shepard led us down the path, taking point. The hill loomed directly ahead, and the path opened onto the edge of a small pond.

"What the hell are those?" I exclaimed, and mentally shoved a foot in my mouth. Jenkins' exuberance must have worn off on me.

The Corporal didn't hesitate to provide the answer. "Those are gas bags!"

I halted at the edge of the pond, watching the strange creatures lazily drift across the waters before activating my omni-tool to map a route around the large hill ahead of us. The gas bags drifted towards the edge of the pond with an innocent curiosity that was at stark odds with the distant sound of bullets and fighting. A series of beeps emanated from my omni-tool as I scanned the local terrain, and one of the creatures tentatively stretched out a tentacle towards the device, sighing. It's tendril waved harmlessly through the holographic display. The gas bag squeaked in confusion as I spun the dial around on my combat radar while its tampering yielded zero results.

"I think it likes you, Alenko!" Jenkins exclaimed, startling the creature. It snapped its tentacle back and retreated away from the edge of the pond. The others skittered a few feet away from the young Corporal.

"Doesn't seem to like you," Shepard remarked, sliding up besides me, silent as a wraith despite the medium combat armor. Jenkins grinned sheepishly at her.

"Commander," I gestured towards her with my wrist. She moved close enough that I could see the faint, white scar just beneath her eye. "This path is the most direct route to the spaceport. It butts up against a cliff, but will take us straight to the dig-site and the civilian encampment. If there are any survivors, they're likely to be holed up _here_," I stabbed the point on my display for emphasis. "We should make sure they're secure."

Shepard turned away, looking in the direction the path I'd mapped out lead. I knew what I suggested was technically against Anderson's orders; the beacon was our top priority - but the scope of the damage to the colony made it impossible to ignore the sheer terribleness of what had happened. While the beacon was top priority, helping survivors _was_ a secondary objective - as long as it didn't impede the mission. The least we could do was make sure whatever survivors there would continue to survive until rescue ships could get here.

"Good job, LT," she finally said, and I heaved a mental sigh of relief. She raised her rifle to her eye, scoping down the path I'd indicated on the map. I deactivated my omni-tool and unholstered my heavy pistol. Ammunition block levels at 84%, heat sink functioning at full capacity.

"The path is clear," Shepard stated. She lowered the scope away from her, straddling the rifle across her chest. "Let's move."

I took up the rearguard and we began our push around down the glade towards the edge of the cliff. The distant sounds of gunfire were beginning to abate. Noting the dead bodies mingled among the brush, it was easy to assume that humans were not on the winning side.

We rounded down the path and reached the edge of the cliff. The path turned sharply to the right. Shepard signalled a halt. The path ahead appeared as clear as lake; I felt my hackles rise nonetheless. The feeling of unseen watchers tightened around my spine. I readied my omni-tool for shield blasting explosions and weapon overheating sabotages. Both programs ready to accept parameters for whatever we might find on the field before us.

My instinct whispered slavers, but my brain didn't agree. This was not a colony on the edge of the terminus systems. Eden Prime was closer to Council space, though technically in the skyllian verge. Only desperate slavers would penetrate so close to Council space for a raid. This had to be something different. I glanced at the nearest dead body. A woman, but that was as much as I could tell from the remains. The damage to her flesh was too great to get more from a visual read than that. Slavers would leave more than this. The scope of the attack was too deadly, too powerful. Too overwhelming. They wouldn't take the time to make sure a dead body was decimated. Shoot, kill, and move on.

Shepard signed the march forward, and Jenkins slid out from cover, barrelling down the center of the path. My HUD warned me too late. Assault drones flew around the boulders on the far side, cutting Jenkins down. His shields overloaded before I had so much as raised my arm to pull his ass out of the line of fire. His scream of pain cut off with a sharp gurgle, and I dissipated the biotic pull I hadn't had time to execute.

He was only 19.

Shepard sniped the nearest drone out of the sky while I overloaded the second one and biotically slammed it to the ground. The silence that followed was agonizing. I activated my omni-tool and sent out a quick pulse. Nothing. Shepard heard the ping and peered around the small boulder she was using for cover. Satisfied that no tech-uglies were about to charge around the bend, she broke out and eased down the path towards Jenkins. Taking my cue from her, I followed suit, maintaining an active scan of the nearby field.

Jenkins was sprawled out on the ground, a pool of his own blood congealing in the dirt around his body. I knelt down next to him and closed his eyes, trying to maintain calm. Statistics, analysis. State the _facts_ because right now I couldn't afford to see a kid. I had to see a casualty. "Ripped right through his shields. Never had a chance."

Shepard captured my gaze as I stood up. "We'll see that he receives a proper service once the mission is complete. But for now, I need you to stay focused." Her words were stoic, but her eyes spoke volumes. The grim set of her jaw and the hard edge to her gaze sent a shiver up my spine. She saw the kid, too. The life snuffed out right in front of our eyes before it had a chance to really shine.

"Aye aye, ma'am." For a moment, I didn't dare take my eyes of Jenkins. At least he'd died on his home planet, protecting his people. My gut tightened, twisting under the finality of the situation.

"Let's move," Shepard ordered. She slid to the edge of the cliff face to provide better cover as we rounded the side of the hill.

I increased the flow of energy running through my amp. The dead civilians... Jenkins. I was beginning to reassess my stance concerning the use of biotics on the field. Over the years, I'd gotten used to depending more on the tech side of my training, using my biotics defensively rather than offensively. Not wanting to startle the members of the ground team and to reduce mutters about "L2's" and whispers of "crazy" I'd maintained a fairly reserved stance regarding the use of "magic woo woo" on the field. A part of me couldn't quite quash the notion that my purely defensive perspective was partially responsible for Jenkins' death.

My combat radar flared red, and I dove for cover behind a large boulder. My amp thrummed with the power running through it. Jenkins was dead. It may not have been my fault, and I might not have done anything wrong, but that's how the cards had fallen. He might not have died because of me - or even Shepard - but I could do better by him. And I was going to.

I leaned out from cover and spotted Shepard a few meters ahead of me, crouching behind a rock smaller than mine. An assault drone out of sight from my position was peppering her small cover with bullets, preventing her from shooting back. I ducked back down and navigated the fabrication menus of my omni-tool with the speed only a marine in the thick of battle can truly appreciate. Using my previously quick assessment of the field and my radar as reference, I whipped the tech mine around the edge of my cover and heard the satisfying fizzle of weapons overloading.

I took full advantage of the cessation of fire to lean out, barrier blazing about me with a wave of my forearm, to take down the drones with my pistol. Shepard tossed a tech mine of her own creation, bulls-eyeing the nearest drone to pieces. Within seconds, the three drones were finished. Shepard stood up, and I moved up the path to fall in behind her. I grimly stepped over the dead bodies strewn across the path, clustered mostly around the small boulders and trees they'd used for cover against fire.

"All clear," I reported. Shepard nodded sharply and concisely.

Her omni-tool was live and pulsing. Wait, _pulsing_? I slid closer as she slowly swept her left arm before her, keeping an eye on the area immediately around us for more enemy drones. I arched an intrigued eyebrow as I tried to make sense of the code streaming on her omni. "I thought I detected something... weird," she said by way of explanation.

"Weird, ma'am?" She appeared to be running a program designed to detect neural nets associated with artificial intelligences. The assault drones we'd just defeated had been admittedly more unusual than others I'd encountered on previous assignments. But not so weird that it couldn't be explained by an advanced neural net meant for virtual intelligences. The only question that left was where the tech had come from, because as far as I knew, the single garrison here didn't exactly warrant the use of advanced tech meant for heavy combat use and top secret Alliance research stations. All Eden Prime had was the beacon; and that was a recent occurrence.

Shepard shut off her omni and shrugged. "Their movements seemed a little too..." she waved her hand about as if searching for a word.

"Coordinated?" I offered, and Shepard stabbed a finger into the air.

"_Yes._ Coordinated." She unholstered her rifle from the slot on her back. "I must be getting paranoid."

"There's a difference between paranoia and caution, ma'am."

Shepard eyed me. "Let's move-," she turned her head sharply, "Do you hear that?"

Before I could provide an answer, and possibly because the question was rhetorical, Shepard blitzed up the path, cresting the small rise ahead of us. Instead of following straight up behind her, I edged around the base of the copse, to the right of Shepard's position, giving me a clear view of a soldier running for her life flip mid-air onto her back and expertly take down two assault drones. She slid on her back a few feet, backing away from something I couldn't see, but judging from the way Shepard raised her sniper rifle, the Commander could. The soldier scrambled to her feet and dove for cover behind a large boulder only 10 meters from my position.

I didn't have to wait for long to see what had gotten the marine scooting on her ass before the drones had time to hit dirt. Two robots maneuvered around the corner, focused solely on the soldier currently ducking behind the boulder. I activated my omni-tool, attempting an overload hack with zero success. Frak! I raised my sidearm and provided cover fire for the marine. The rapport from Shepard's rifle sang out loud and clear, and the flashlight head of one of the platforms exploded in a shower of sparks. Its counterpart pinpointed Shepard's location instantly. I amassed a massive throw field and launched it at the synthetic. It crashed against the rocks. Its head still twitched, but the marine used the opening provided to launch a spray a bullets from her assault rifle, cutting it off before it had a chance to rise.

She dropped her rifle to her chest once it was over, staring at the motionless robots in front of her. Shepard slid down the hill and I joined her at the base of the large boulder. The marine snapped to attention as we drew close, taking in Shepard's rank in a smooth once-over. "Thank you, Commander. You pulled my ass out of the fire. Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams of the 212. You the one in charge here, ma'am?"

Shepard stalled the line of questioning from the marine with a hand. "Are you wounded, Williams?"

Williams breathed deeply. "A few scrapes and bruises. Nothing serious. The others weren't so lucky." Her voice hitched at that last. "Oh man..." She breathed deeply, clearly having a hard time keeping herself in check now that she had a moment to really process. "We were patrolling the perimeter when the attack hit. We tried to get off a distress call, but they cut our communications. I've been fighting for my life ever since."

Shepard looked at the ridge Williams had gestured to, approximately a kilometer away. "Where's the rest of your squad?"

"We tried to double back to the beacon," Williams started, and I felt my gut go ice cold. "But we ran into an ambush. I don't think any of the others... I think I'm the only one left."

"This isn't your fault, Williams," Shepard reassured her. Williams met Shepard's unwavering gaze and nodded. "You couldn't have done anything to save them."

The words should have sounded hollow, but coming from the Commander, they possessed an unsaid weight. Williams needed to hear them. I couldn't even begin to imagine the horrible soul-drenching suck knowing that you were the only survivor from your entire unit. We're marines. We're brothers-in-arms (figuratively speaking), a bond that runs deeper than your standard friendship. We look out for each other, watch each other's backs, and take turns being the designated driver. Garrisons on colonies like Eden Prime tended to be pretty tight knit groups. It didn't take a stretch of the imagination to know that this was hitting Williams pretty hard.

"Yes, ma'am," she replied deferentially. Perhaps she didn't quite believe the Commander, but accepted the words of a superior officer with more experience. Perhaps she knew that later, she just might change her mind. Either way, Shepard's expression softened ever so slightly. "We held our position as long as we could. Until the geth overwhelmed us."

"The geth haven't been seen outside the veil in over 200 years," I cut in, skeptical. I didn't doubt the Chief's sit-rep, but what we'd encountered so far wasn't making sense. "Why would they be here now?"

"They must have come for the beacon," Williams offered. The chief rolled her shoulders. "The dig site is close. Just beyond that ridge." She pivoted and pointed east. "We could be there in 15 minutes."

I strode east behind the Commander, scanning the vicinity with my omni-tool as Shepard considered the situation. "Commander, I'm getting a lot of interference."

Williams turned to address me, "The geth set up some sort of jamming signal shortly after they arrived. It's been blocking all of our communications."

"I can't get a clear read on the terrain," I told the Commander. She flashed her omni open to examine for herself.

"Things just get better and better, don't they?" she muttered, closing her mapping application. "Well, Chief, it looks like we need your expertise. We need to secure the beacon before the geth destroy or commandeer it. Welcome aboard."

I stretched out my hand, deactivating my omni-tool. "Staff-Lieutenant Alenko."

"Tell me everything you know about the beacon, Chief."


	6. Kaidan vs The Beacon

**Kaidan vs The Beacon**

-K-

Since the dig site had proven to be a bust, Shepard ordered us to move through the civilian camp towards the spaceport in order to rendez-vous with Nihlus. Perhaps the Spectre had encountered new information that would shed some light on the situation. If the science team wasn't responsible for the relocation of the beacon, it was only logical to assume that the geth were. Therefore moving it signified the intention of preserving whatever the beacon had to offer instead of simply destroying it. There was something that the geth wanted bad enough to risk leaving the Veil and attacking a human colony.

The geth were proving to be insane bastards of expert skill. I conceded a begrudging respect for the skill while also shouldering the desire to kick their asses in a spectacularly glorious fashion.

Shepard motioned for me to take point as we crested the hill to the civilian encampment. I eased forward, pistol out and directed at a 45 degree angle from my torso. My hardsuit computer registered bio-electric signals just before I saw the spikes, of the same make that the geth had impaled a marine on not 30 minutes ago. I looked up, expecting to see the grisly sight of corpses dripping blood. Instead, "What the hell are those... ?" I murmured, contemplating the blueish corpses. My hardsuit computer registered them as the source of the bio-electric signal.

Shepard ordered a halt and took point. "My God," I heard her mutter over the comm. and as if on cue, the giant spikes retracted and cybernetic zombies raced towards us, moaning like their undead sci-fi counterparts. I was officially living in one of the B movies my mate Kyle habitually made fun of me for watching.

Shepard backed up into to me, leveling her rifle. "Alenko," she glanced at me, "Something blue?"

I didn't need to hear the order to understand what she was trying to say. I tunneled the dark energy into a massive wave of energy directed at the horde of husks ambling quickly towards us - and my eyes widened as I realized that the one nearest us had dodged the blast of energy and was emitting an electric field of its own. I didn't need the flashing warning from my HUD to know that it was about to blow and we were too damn close. I sucked in a breath and threw up a barrier surrounding all three of us. The husks remained motionless, lying in broken heaps on the ground. Shepard released Ashley's neck where she'd grabbed the woman as she'd dropped to the ground.

The Chief rubbed the dirt off her visor, pointedly not looking at Shepard. "Next time, warn me when you do something crazy, LT. I don't want my world turned upside down like that again."

Shepard smacked the Chief on the back good-naturedly. "Buck up, Chief."

Williams hitched her shoulders, and squinted in the direction of the encampment. "We should check the trailers. Judging by the looks of this place, I doubt we'll find anyone... but if anyone from the science team made it, this is where they'd hole up."

The first few trailers were empty, blackened husks. Bits of burnt clothing and papers littered the floor. The air reeked of burned flesh and the bitter taste of spent thermal clips. I expected to find the bodies of the dead. When we didn't, it didn't takes us long to figure out why. The spikes served a darker purpose than previously believed. I thought back to the marine we'd seen impaled. If I'd known what was in store for the poor bastard, I might have given him the mercy of a bullet to the brain. Harsh, brutal even. But better than becoming a walking bomb for the enemy.

The only question I couldn't seem to rationalize was where in the hell the geth got the technology to turn organics into ticking time bombs. Prior to this, the only encounters with the geth were on their own turf, beyond the Perseus Veil. Nowhere near enough ships went missing to warrant the rapid development of tech like this.

The last trailer was locked. Shepard's eyebrows lowered as she hacked into the panel decisively. Locked doors meant survivors. Survivors meant hope.

"Humans!" a woman inside exclaimed upon seeing us. "Thank the maker!"

Ashley recognized her as the lead scientist on the beacon project. The doctor confirmed Ashley's previous suspicion that the beacon had been relocated - in preparation for pickup. "We received a transmission instructing us to relocate the beacon to the spaceport for retrieval," the doctor said, looking from Shepard to Ashley.

Shepard simply thanked the woman and we left. "Stay safe, Doc," Ashley said as we slid the door shut. The doctor's eyes casted about nervously. Safety was a concept she'd forgotten existed.

Shepard stopped a few meters away from the trailer and looked at me, her face unreadable. "The Alliance never sent a transmission," she stated.

I confirmed her statement. "No. All transmissions went through me. Nothing was sent to Eden Prime."

"Fraaaaaaak," Ashley said, looking at the both of us. "That means..."

Shepard nodded. "We'd better get to the spaceport. Double time."

After a quick skirmish with more husks and a few geth, we arrived at the spaceport. The site greeting us didn't bode well for the mission, nor for the Alliance. Nihlus' corpse lay amidst the burning ruins of shipping boxes, his rifle tossed to the side. Blue blood still leaked from the crater in his head. The sight of his detached fringe, sitting next to him as if waiting to be put back on, was revolting.

The chief murmured, "Frak me."

I knelt next to the deceased Spectre, scanning him with my omni-tool. No real hope of finding a life-sign, more the far-off distant kind of hope that this wasn't Nihlus. Judging from the look on the Chief's face, however, I might as well have wished for a pet dragon for all the good it would do me. "It's Nihlus," I confirmed and stood up.

A soft scuffle captured my attention and Shepard's sidearm was up faster than we could blink. "You've got to the count of five to come out before I open fire. One - "

A dockworker stood up so fast he nearly tipped over in the process. Shepard holstered her pistol. "What happened here?" she asked. Her tone clearly indicated that she expected to be answered, and the dockworker clearly agreed.

"The other turian... Saren, shot your turian in the back. Your friend turned his back on Saren, like they were friends, asking for advice. That's when it him. I stayed hidden behind these crates."

"There's something more going on here than what we've been told," I remarked.

Ashley wasn't done, however. "You hid behind these crates? Damned convenient. Letting other people die for you. Real nice."

"The battle caught me by surprise!" the dockworker explained, throwing his hands up into the air. "What was I supposed to do? Die?"

The Chief tossed her head angrily.

"Stand down, Williams," Shepard ordered, and the Chief backed away from the worker. "There's a civilian encampment just up that rise."

"Right, th-thanks," the dockworker stuttered out before heading in the direction Shepard pointed. He paused, "The other turian, he took the tram to the other eastern spaceport."

"The cargo train is down the stairs, Commander," Williams pointed to the other side of the spaceport.

My HUD flashed red just as Shepard shouted, "We've got incoming!" I dove for cover behind a moderately sized shipping box. Shepard slammed down next to me.

"Two snipers, a rocket drone, and a couple regulars," she rattled off.

I snuck a glimpse and spotted the Chief a few meters ahead of us, crouched low to the ground behind a wall that separated the catwalk from the platform. Her kinetic barriers flashed a couple times as a few lucky hits rammed the top of her shields.

"Williams' shields are taking a beating."

Shepard quickly peeked above our meager cover and assessed the situation. "Can you get a bead on the drone?" She asked.

"I think so." I cued up a powerful, and quickly modified because my last one had done shit against these guys, overload on my omni-tool. Short range, with a concentrated blast zone. Hopefully enough to knock the drone out of the air.

I locked eyes with Shepard, and she nodded once. I stood up from cover and overloaded the drone. A satisfying burst of electricity signalled my success and Shepard extracted herself from behind the crate and moved quickly across the platform towards Williams. I distracted the snipers with a wave of my hand. The shockwave was weak in comparison to my former display, but strong enough to keep them down while Shepard blitzed across the platform.

Williams used the momentary quiet to peer above the rail and knock one of the geth on its synthetic ass with a barrage of assault rifle fire. Our tactics made short work of the geth, and soon we were on the tram, heading towards our one-stop destination: the spaceport. The tram provided a nice breather after all the heavy fighting. I took advantage of the ride to down an energy bar.

When we finally reached the space port, my omni-tool picked up a demolitions trace within five meters. I trotted to the railing as the tram shuddered to a halt and saw the rudimentary bomb sitting out in plain sight. It would have taken an idiot to pass it by. Which meant that the geth didn't care if it was noticed. Which further meant the geth weren't here to retrieve the beacon as previously thought. They'd come to retrieve something _from_ the beacon, and didn't want that ineffable something to fall into the wrong hands.

"Sonofabitch," Shepard muttered, signalling for me to hack the device and shut it down.

I was on it before she finished her sentence, bypassing the sequencing protocols. Shepard and Williams scouted the ramp and scoped the spaceport while I scanned for more devices with my omni-tool, increasing the range as best I could.

"There are three more bombs, Commander," I streamed the date from my omni to hers, showing her the virtual map of the port, my partial restore of sensors having been effective. Three red dots represented the bombs. The closest was just up the ramp and across the track. The geth hadn't bothered setting up a jamming signal to cover the locations, which made our job easier. They hadn't anticipated us getting this far. An error they weren't likely to repeat.

"Williams, do you know how to hack a bomb?"

"Sorry, ma'am. I'm not a geek."

"That leaves just you and me, Alenko," Shepard told me. "With a small patrol of geth on the other side of the track."

"Assuming the timers were synchronized, we have just over 4 minutes."

We eased up the track, trying to remain undetected. Luckily for us, the former display of arrogance concerning the bomb extended to geth not monitoring the bridge. I peered down the bridge leading to the other side and spotted bombs 1 and 2. I tapped Shepard's shoulder and flattened against the low wall of the catwalk.

"You take the first one, I'll grab the second. Williams, once the geth get a visual, we'll need covering fire."

"Aye, ma'am." Williams checked her assault rifle and slapped in a fresh thermal clip. "Locked and ready."

"Let's move."

I swept down with Shepard right on my tail towards the first bomb. At the edge of the bridge I halted and peered around the corner. Two geth about 30 meters away, one facing us. I ducked back down and activated my omni-tool and prepared a wide-spread sabotage. Shepard fiddled with her omni behind me. My shields hovered at 85%. A fresh battery pack was clipped to my belt, but I wasn't going to waste it.

In one swift motion, I tore out of cover, launched the sabotage causing the thermal clips in the geth's weapons to blow out, and honed in on the bomb. I interfaced with the device as soon as I was in range, and threw up a barrier to protect me from the onslaught of enemy fire raining in my direction. Williams provided cover fire as I hacked into the device and disabled the detonation sequencer. I looked up just in time to see Shepard hack her bomb with her left hand and shoot a synthetic rounding the corner out of sight from Williams' view with her sidearm. I eased up the gangway, shooting geth with precision as they came into view.

I had to hand it to the quarians. The AI they'd developed was certainly worthy of some serious respect and appreciation. If said AI wasn't in the midst of shooting high velocity rounds at me, I might have taken a moment to be truly amazed at their creation. The geth had already picked up on our tactics from our previous encounters and were advancing on our position with a cruel efficiency.

Unfortunately, the immediate path to the last bomb was blocked by their line of defense. Shepard had switched to her sniper and was picking off troopers as they revealed themselves. My shields took a few hits and my HUD flashed a warning as the kinetic barriers were reduced to 35%. I ducked behind a shipping crate, assessing our options. My schematic of the area told me our only options were to either charge straight into the geth in order to get to the bomb (with only 2 minutes and change left on the clock) or to go back the way we'd come and approach from the far side of the space-port.

That last option was ugly. If the geth caught on to that plan, they'd be able to resist us long enough to allow the timer to tick down to zero. End of mission.

I replaced the battery pack for my shields and supplemented them with another barrier. Two lines of defense before the bullets would eat away at my armor.

I leaned out from cover and overloaded the nearest geth with a modified protocol. Its head exploded in a shower of sparks as Williams took the opportunity to take it out while its shields were down.

"Alenko, do you read me?" Shepard asked over the comm.

I answered Shepard as I scoped my next shot. "I hear ya'."

I dropped another geth as Shepard relayed her concerns over the comm. "We need to get to the bomb. Unfortunately, going around isn't an option. Do you see a clear path?"

I shifted down and pressed my head against the back of the crate, looking at Shepard approximately 5 meters backwards of my position. "Clear path? No." I took a deep, stabilizing breath, a sense of determination seeping through my bones. "But I see a stupid one."

"Define stupid, LT," Williams interjected. Her voice carried a hint of amusement. You didn't last for long as a marine unless you developed a sense of humor on the field.

"I have enough energy to launch myself over the geth biotically," I replied. "But it'll leave me exposed. I might as well paint a big fat red X on ass."

"There isn't one there already?" Williams asked innocently, her assault rifle echoing through the comm. I grinned, though no one could see my reaction. My crate thumped as it took more hits from the geth.

"The only problem is the sniper."

"I'll take care of the sniper," Shepard replied. "Get ready to move. Williams, move up to the large crate just behind Alenko. We're going to cover Alenko's ass while he learns to fly." I started amassing more dark energy, sucking in deep breaths.

"I'm in position, ma'am." I closed my eyes, preparing myself.

"Move!" Shepard ordered and the rapport of her rifle sounded, taking down the geth sniper. I sprinted out of cover and vaulted myself biotically over the geth, and reached the bomb with less than a minute to spare. My barrier flared and died as it absorbed bullets. My hardsuit alarm kicked in as my shields starting taking the rounds instead. I used my last bit of energy to throw the geth off their feet, and focused on the bomb. Shepard and Williams would have to take care of them. I didn't have time to spare if I wanted to stop the detonation sequence.

Shepard marched up behind me just as I finished de-arming the device, the count-down frozen at 13 seconds. She held her gun out as she warily scanned the surroundings. Silence greeted us, deafening following the battle.

"If they brought the beacon to this spaceport, it'd be on the east side, just down the ramp up ahead. Easiest place for a ship to set down," the Chief said. She wiped her forehead with the back of her glove, having already removed her helmet. Eden Prime was warm, and we weren't exactly out on a light stroll.

"Then that's where we're going. Alenko... " Shepard's voice melted to concern as she turned to me. "Are you all right?"

"Ma'am?" I said, not following.

She reached her hand towards my face and gingerly touched my cheek. Her touch stung like hell and I hissed; her glove came away covered in blood.

"I've got some medigel, Commander," Ashley said, handing her the small tube of the clear gel. Shepard removed her glove and gently applied the gel to the gash on my face.

"Thanks, Commander," I said once Shepard had finished.

"Let's go secure the beacon."

The beacon was right where Ashley had guessed it would be. Why Saren and the geth had sent a fake transmission to have it moved here, I couldn't even begin to guess. If they had simply planned on blowing it to high hell in the first place, the dig site provided a better location. The site was more enclosed, with all the archaeology gear towering around it. Unless Saren knew that the Alliance had dispatched a ship to retrieve it. In which case, providing a fake order to have it moved somewhere else made sense. The ground team would always have gone to the dig site first, since that was the location we had on record. It added an extra layer of security for the Spectre, ensuring that we'd be delayed while we tried to figure out why our prothean artifact wasn't where it was supposed to be. Devious. And brilliant.

The top question on my list, however, wasn't about the beacon. Rather, I wanted to know why a Council Spectre would risk assaulting a human colony by forging an alliance with the geth. What benefit did _he_ get? He could hardly have been said to wipe out the colony. There were a lot of dead civilians, sure, but the colony as a whole was still functioning. An orbital strike would have sufficed if he'd simply wanted to wipe Eden Prime off the map. Colonists hadn't been taken, so it wasn't about the slave trade either. What did Saren get out of this?

A grunt from Williams brought me out my musings as we approached the beacon.

It stretched high above us, a smooth post dark metal. It glimmered multiple shades of grey, refracting the barest touches of light. Green energy laced around it not unlike the aura that surrounds a biotic amassing a large amount of energy. Curiosity piqued, I raised my omni-tool and began scanning. Shepard briefly glanced at it before radioing the _Normandy_. Ashley stepped in to take a closer look, peeking over my shoulder at my omni-tool. The readings were off the charts. It appeared to be a transmission protocol sequence, but the signatures didn't match up with standard communications. Not surprising, considering it was ancient prothean tech. But in the same vein, a lot of current technology was based on what the protheans had left behind. The beacon wasn't syncing with my omni-tool to transmit data, but it _was_ doing something that looked a lot _like_ transmitting.

"It wasn't doing anything like that at the dig site," Williams remarked. I spared a glance for her, and she shrugged and turned around. "Commander, now that... " Her voice faded away as she marched back to Shepard's position.

I stepped closer to the beacon, adjusting the parameters of my trace. I felt a faint pull, and looked up, trying to determine the source. The beacon pulsed and I realized too late that _it_ was the source. I lowered my omni-tool and attempted to back away, but the pull suddenly became overwhelming. Like a penny caught in a funnel, there was no where to go but down. I struggled against the force, but without something to grab onto, my attempts were futile. My head began tingling, my ears ringing. Green arcs of energy lanced towards me. I stared in horror and redoubled my efforts to break free.

Hands wrapped around my torso and I felt a massive push before I hit the ground hard. The gash on my cheek opened anew. My head bounced on the deck of the port before I skidded to a halt. The impact dazed me, but not enough to deaden the realization that Shepard was now caught in the beacon's field.

"Shepard!" I scrambled to my feet, my hands slipping on the grated metal.

"No! Don't touch her!" Ashley shouted and yanked me back to me knees. "It could be dangerous!"

She was right. Shepard _hovered_ in front of the beacon, her body arched as if a massive claw had grabbed her by the chest and hung her up to dry. A spasm rocked through her and she shook violently, hands splayed, fingers arched unnaturally. The beacon's energy field tripled in output and data screamed across the small display on my omni-tool. But I couldn't take my eyes off Shepard. _Wouldn't._ Her fingers clawed at the air as she twisted her head as if she didn't want to see whatever she was being forced to see.

A keening mewl escaped her throat and then her whole body went limp, her head lolling to the side, for a split second of silence before the beacon exploded. The shockwave knocked me off my feet; Shepard crashed into ground hard just meters in front of me. She rolled onto her side and didn't get up. I scrambled to me feet and raced towards her, Ashley hot on my heels.

My hand flew to the commlink in my ear. "Joker! Get the _Normandy_ here now. We've got a man down!" I gingerly rolled Shepard onto her back, wary of broken bones, and felt for a pulse under the soft layers of her under-armor.

"_We're coming in hot, Alenko. Relaying the pick up zone to your tool now."_

Her heart was racing, but the pulse was faint. Fluttering. That mewl echoed in my mind. Something so heart-wrenchingly terrified coming from such a strong woman frightened me.

I lifted Shepard up onto my shoulder in a fireman's carry, checking the coordinates on my map. "Hold on, Shepard," I murmured as we broke into quick trot.


	7. Kaidan vs The Mission Report

**Kaidan vs The Mission Report**

-K-

"Here's my mission report, sir." I handed Captain Anderson a datapad and returned to attention.

"At ease, Alenko," Andeson replied. I relaxed my posture, grateful for the relief it provided to my sore muscles. The Captain scanned the contents of the pad and I waited in case he had questions or wanted clarification. Normally, Commander Shepard would be performing this task, presenting the formal mission report to the Captain. Since she was otherwise incapacitated, that duty fell to me, the next senior member of the ground team. "Do you know what caused the beacon to explode?"

"No, sir. I can only postulate."

"Then pull up a chair and postulate." Anderson gestured to the vacant chair at his desk and I complied.

"It's within reason to assume that Saren activated the beacon." The Captain nodded. "Williams stated that the beacon wasn't active when the science team dug it up. However, he couldn't have anticipated that we'd respond as quick as we did. Even if he had, he wouldn't have had the time to set up something as complex in technology that dates back over 50,000 years. Besides, why would he? He'd left a platoon of geth behind to destroy the colony, which would have destroyed any evidence of his presence here along with the beacon. His attempt would have been successful if we hadn't arrived when we did. Saren was not responsible for the explosion."

"Then what happened?"

"Overuse. It's unreasonable to assume the beacon was stable. I'm by no means an expert on Prothean technology, but the readings I collected on my omni-tool prior to the incident are erratic."

The Captain shifted at his desk, his face a stony mask. "Elaborate."

I adjusted my position so I could angle my omni-tool towards the Captain. I navigated through the menus to the readings I'd collected from the beacon prior to and during Shepard's encounter with it. "See here? This closely resembles a standard communications protocol. But these weird spikes aren't consistent with any known algorithm. To top it off, the output isn't stable. The energy fluctuated wildly before the beacon was used. I'm using a loose definition of the term."

Anderson leaned in to examine the data. "What's this?" He stabbed a finger at the display.

"That's when the beacon pulled Shepard into its field and activated. The following are the readings gathered from that connection."

"It looks like it tripled in output."

"It did. If you look here, you can see evidence of some sort of power feedback in the system. If I had to guess, I'd say that's what caused it to explode. Saren's lucky it didn't explode on him."

Anderson sat in silence for a moment, processing what I'd said. I still counted it as a small miracle that Shepard hadn't died because of my display of stupidity. I couldn't say for certain that my proximity had set it off, but I was willing to bet good money on the idea. Shepard should have been the one giving Anderson this report. I should have been the one lying unconscious on the bio-bed. Or on a slab in the morgue. Instead, she was on a cold bed in the medbay, under the careful scrutiny of Doctor Chakwas. At best, this incident would go in her file as a simple "injury sustained" footnote. At worst, I'd inadvertently cost her a position with the Spectres. And potentially her military career if there was severe mental trauma.

"Did it transmit any packages?" Anderson inquired.

I exhaled slowly. "It did not transmit anything to my omni-tool."

The Captain arched an eyebrow as he peered up at me over the orange glow of my omni-tool. "But it _was_ transmitting?"

"Yes."

Captain Anderson nodded. "How is the Commander doing?"

I closed my omni and leaned back in my chair. "Unchanged. Doctor Chakwas isn't sure when she'll wake up."

The Captain sighed, pushing against both his knees with his hands. "One more question, Lieutenant." I nodded. "I'm considered adding Gunnery-Chief Williams to the roster. What's your opinion?"

"My opinion, sir?"

"Normally, I'd ask Commander Shepard since she was the CO. However..."

"... However, the Commander is incapacitated."

"Exactly. So I'm asking you, as second-in-command of the mission and head of the marine detail."

"Williams showed remarkable aptitude on the field. Considering what she'd been through prior to our encounter, I would have been impressed if she simply maintained her composure and followed orders. However, she displayed remarkable ingenuity. She has an eye for tactics. If you're thinking of adding her to the roster for the _Normandy_, then I'd like to put it on record that she'd make a fine addition to this crew."

"I'll make it official then." The Captain swivelled his chair to face his terminal.

"Permission to leave, sir?"

"Granted." I rose from my seat and Anderson paused. "Alenko, thanks for pulling her out of the fire."

From what Joker had told me, Anderson and Shepard knew each other outside the military. I recognized the personal nature of the sentiment for what it was. Not only had I saved the XO (not to mention humanity's best candidate for the Spectres), I'd also saved his friend. "My pleasure, sir."

The coffee pot was on in the mess, so I poured myself a cup, relishing the chance to defog my brain. I hadn't slept since Doctor Chakwas had cleared me for duty and I was beginning to feel the strain of the long hours. Coffee was only a temporary fix, but I knew that if I tried to shove myself in a sleeper pod to get some rest, the attempt would be futile.

Fortunately, my insomnia didn't extend to the latest addition to the crew. Williams was tucked into the nearest sleeper pod, catching up on some Doctor ordered rest. By the time we hit the cargo bay, Williams had been running on fumes. She all but collapsed into the pod as soon as Doctor Chakwas cleared her for duty and ordered her to rest. The order had simply been a kindness, and one the Doctor knew would be followed regardless.

I slipped into the medbay to check up on the XO. Shortly after boarding the _Normandy_, Shepard had gone into anaphylactic shock. The force of the jolts had nearly sent me tumbling into the elevator as Anderson shouted for a stretcher to meet us in the mess over the comm. The fireman's carry couldn't restrain her and I'd had to cradle her in my arms, with Williams restraining the Commander's feet to prevent her from kicking the elevator controls. When the doors finally opened, the Doctor was waiting with a needle and quickly injected it straight into Shepard's neck. Once the shaking ceased, we were able to get her onto the stretcher.

"Still unable to sleep, Kaidan?"

"No," I replied and grinned weakly at the Doctor. She was immersed in her research at her workstation.

"I could give you a sedative," she offered, peering over her shoulder at me. I shook my head. "Your funeral."

I walked up to Shepard's bed, taking a look at the monitors that were keeping track of her life signs. Heart beat was normal, her breathing regular. I lightly touched Shepard's wrist with my first two fingers. Her skin felt like ice. "Hey doc, where are the thermal blankets?"

Doctor Chakwas gestured towards a cabinet. "Decided to take a nap after all?"

I chuckled. "Not for me. For Shepard. Her skin's like ice."

I retrieved a blanket from the cabinet and returned to Shepard's bed. Gently, I laid it over her sleeping frame, careful to not disturb her. "Any idea when she'll wake up?"

"Could be 5 minutes from now, could be two hours from now. She needs to recover, and her body knows it. She'll wake when she's ready; though, knowing Shepard, that'll be two hours before she _should_."

It made me feel better to know that she wasn't lying here in a coma with an indeterminable wake-up date. With one worry wiped off the list, however, another replaced it.

"You should get some sleep too, Kaidan. You're not doing yourself any favors by remaining awake."

"Couldn't sleep if I tried."

"Nobility is well and good," Doctor Chakwas rounded the bed to look me in the eye, "but it won't change what happened. I doubt the Commander would appreciate you running yourself to the ground just so you can maintain this vigil."

"Are you going to order me out of the medbay, doc?"

Doctor Chakwas sighed and pushed off the bio-bed. "No, I won't. To be honest, I haven't slept since before we docked at Arcturus."

I settled onto the bed next to Shepard's, rumpling the soft material as I slouched down and rested my chin on my hand. Doctor Chakwas adjusted the thermal wrap on the Commander. I didn't really know why I was here, except that I felt responsible for the position Shepard was in. Probably to reassure myself that she wasn't dead and I therefore didn't need to torture myself unnecessarily. My guilty conscience was still on yellow alert, and refused to stand down, despite my body's insistence that it required rest, not more caffeine. Nor would it stop me from mentally kicking myself for setting off the beacon. While it was technically true that I wasn't responsible for Shepard's decision to throw me out of harm's way, I should have known that any CO worth their salt would put their neck on the line for their team. Especially if that line didn't seem to be particularly dangerous.

Shepard shifted on the bed, one hand rolling off the side. I slipped to my feet to check on her. Her brow furrowed and both eyes slowly opened. They had the glassy quality of someone trying to focus-check the world around them. The hand that had fallen to the side bumped against my leg as she lifted it up to her temple.

"Doctor?" Shepard mumbled incoherently. I tilted my head closer in case she was asking for something like water or a pistol, but all I could make out was the world "olive." Her eyes blinked sluggishly and focused on my own. "Doctor Chakwas? She's waking up."

Shepard winced as she attempted to sit up. "Hey, take it easy," I told her, and steadied her. She groaned as I gently helped her to a sitting position and removed my arm from around her shoulders. Both her hands cradled her temple and she closed her eyes. A hand flew out to steady herself against the bed.

"You had us worried there, Commander," Doctor Chakwas greeted her. "How are you feeling?"

"Like the morning after a brawl with an angry krogan," Shepard responded, pinching the bridge of her nose. "What happened?"

"We'll get to that in a minute. Look this way."

Shepard rotated, and Doctor Chakwas shined a flashlight in each eye.

"Can you give me the skinny while the Doctor examines me?" Shepard asked me as the Doctor continued a routine physical exam.

"The beacon on Eden Prime exploded. I've gone over the data a number of times to determine the root cause. Based on my limited knowledge of Prothean tech, I've concluded that it was due to a system overload." Shepard shifted as Doctor Chakwas prodded her in the side. "I got too close and must have activated some sort of security field. When you threw me clear, you exposed yourself to the field instead. The beacon overloaded and the blast threw you across the deck, knocking you out cold. I had to carry you to the _Normandy_ over my shoulder."

Shepard raised her eyes to look at me once the Doctor released her head. "Thank you, Alenko," she replied. I gave her a half-smile, the guilt still worming its way around in my belly. Shepard must have sensed as much because she vaulted from the bed, free of Doctor Chakwas' examination. "You had no way to know that something as simple as proximity would set it off."

"One last question, and then you're good to go, Commander," Doctor Chakwas interrupted. "I detected some unusual REM activity."

Shepard hunched her shoulders as she leaned against the bio-bed. "I saw... something. Synthetics slaughtering people." She crossed her arms over her chest. "Butchering them."

"I'll have to add that to my report," the Doctor remarked. "As far as I can tell, you're good to go. You'll have a headache for a while, but I have a range of analgesics and sedatives at your disposal. I'm restricting you to light duty for the next 24 hours. After that, we'll have a follow-up to decide if there were any lasting effects. Barring any complications, the restriction will be lifted."

Shepard winced. Not quite as bad as being benched, but I understood the sentiment. There were three things a marine never wanted to hear: you've been benched, you're restricted to light duty, and the coffee pot is empty. The navy ran on caffeine. "Is that all, doc?"

"Captain Anderson wants you to report to him as soon as you're done here."


	8. Kaidan vs The Down Time

**Kaidan vs The Down Time**

-K-

I stared at the sleeper pods access terminal. Two of the pods were currently occupied. Jenkins' old pod was empty. His pod-buddy Rogers was currently in the pod I'd normally use, opting to not use the one he'd shared with Jenkins out of respect for our deceased shipmate. Echoes of "that was awesome" rang in my ears as I closed his file and erased his name out of the pods database.

My grisly work complete, I flung myself onto the nearest bench in the mess. I held my empty mug in both hands, lost in thought. "That seat taken?" someone asked, startling me out of my absent-minded thought process. I nodded at the Commander once I saw it was her that was asking. Nevermind the fact that she could sit wherever she wanted since she was the XO. It was more courtesy than anything. Shepard slumped onto the bench across from me.

"Glad to see you're OK, Commander. Losing Jenkins was hard on the crew. I'm glad we didn't lose you too," I babbled at her, unsure what else to say. I wasn't normally one for chit-chat. Inevitably, small talk would steer towards my biotics and the combat applications of my skills. A lot of marines didn't seem to realize that there were plenty of ways to use biotic abilities outside of the military.

Shepard rested her head on her right hand as she looked at me, her hair dancing around her wrist. "I wish there was something I could have done to save Jenkins." She stared off into the table. I recognized the look. It was the look used when a ground team leader lost a man but couldn't talk about it for fear of appearing weak. I'd never lost a man before, but I'd seen plenty of people injured, and been a part of missions where there had been casualties. The look had often been plastered across the CO's face post-mission. Guilt, scenarios, and determination that this was going to be the last mistake.

"Nobody could have predicted that the geth would come back from beyond the veil. This is the first time we've gotten our hands on their tech. Aside from that, post-mortem analysis confirmed that Jenkins' shield generator was faulty. You did everything right, Commander. It was just bad luck," I reassured her, having had plenty of experience putting a dent in the look.

"I suppose you're right," she sighed. The table was still on the receiving end of the look.

I settled back on my bench. I felt like Anderson should have been in my position instead. Not that I wanted to slough the duty off onto someone else, but since the Captain knew Shepard, he'd be in a better position to tell her what she needed to hear without it sounding textbook mechanical. "It was one hell of a shakedown run."

"I couldn't have done it without you, Alenko," she caught my eyes with hers. They were crystal clear, the deep blue of glaciers at twilight. Piercing. "Your biotics saved our asses a couple of times."

"We're marines. We stick together," I replied. Eventually, we'd have the conversation for which all ground team CO's eventually sought me out. What could I do with my biotics, and how should they go about making me _do that thing_ without attempting to awkwardly mimic the gestures that came so naturally to me? For now, I wanted to steer the conversation away from that sensitive topic. I wasn't in the mood to describe the tactical applications of my biotics. We'd just lost someone on the team. It wasn't the time. So I stalled that line of thought and asked, "Word is that we're going to the Citadel. Do you mind if I ask why?"

Shepard studied me a moment before answering. "The Captain hopes to get a meeting with the Council. Saren's gone rogue, so appropriate actions must be taken. Such as disbarring him from the Spectres. The last thing anyone needs is a rogue agent with the resources of the Spectres at his fingertips." She dropped her hand to the table and tilted her head up towards the ceiling.

"Not to mention the authority," I snorted. "Hopefully, they don't just see it as one big disaster after another. Losing the beacon, Nihlus dead, half the colony in ruins, followed by what might be perceived as 'false accusations.' As much as I hate to say it, Saren's one of their top agents. Almost anyone with access to the extranet can tell you that. They aren't going to let him go without irrefutable evidence of treason. Which we don't have."

"You've got a pretty good grasp of the situation," Shepard answered, still studying the ceiling. "Are you a career man?"

"Yeah, a lot of biotics are. We're not restricted, but we sure as hell don't go undocumented. Might as well get a paycheck for it. Made my Dad proud when I enlisted. Eventually." Dad had pushed for a career in the military from the beginning. Not in a fatalistic, overbearing way associated with the one-track military-minded kind of guy. Rather, he was a man who had firmly believed in the Alliance. A belief I found hard to share following the execution of BAaT. For the first year out of the program after I'd turned the magic age, I'd feared that he'd sit me down to have 'the talk.' Where I was going in my life, what I would do, how the Alliance could be what gets me where I want to go.

Instead, I'd attended VTA* for a year and graduated with honors. I worked as a bouncer at a nightclub on the weekends to pay the tuition and bills. Once I was out, I signed up as a freelance contractor with various technologically oriented companies around the Vancouver area. I was never short of work. The mega-tropolis provided more than enough opportunities for me to make ends meet. Eventually Dad took me out for a drink and we had 'the talk.' After 3 ½ years, I was more open to what he he had to say. I closed out my contracts, and rushed through basic. My technical aptitude qualified me for sentinel training. My biotics got me a commission. "Is that why you're here? 'Cause of your family?"

I instantly regretted my words. I should have worn a sign pointing to my mouth that read 'insert foot here.' Shepard, however, took my verbal punch with grace. "I grew up on Mindoir. But yeah, you could say they're the reason I fight."

"I'm sorry, Commander," I said, not really knowing what else I could say. "I should have known.."

"No need. That was 13 years ago," she replied stiffly. Her fingers drummed the table top. "It gives me courage." Shepard broke the silence and tilted her face to look at me. "I enlisted to prevent more Mindoirs from happening. To make their deaths mean something, even it's just one more person out there trying to save lives."

I repelled the urge to do something chivalrous, because something chivalrous ultimately meant something _stupid_. Something that could get me a boot in the ass real quick, and a formal report on my record. "Like the blitz? Single-handedly held your position long beyond what anyone thought possible, defending the colony against a slaver raid. I imagine that bought you any post in the fleet."

Shepard responded by giving me a rare, genuine smile. I returned one in kind, keenly aware that this could technically qualify as skirting the boundaries of frat regs. It was my rebellious streak, rearing its ugly head. The one that made me say foot-in-mouth remarks before I could remember to shut my mouth and stand to.

"Captain told me we'll be hitting the relay soon. Bridge is the best place for a front seat view of the Citadel. Especially if it's your first time. Want to come?"

"Wouldn't pass up an opportunity to watch Joker embellish his skills."

Shepard glanced across the room where Ashley was sitting, studying a datapad detailing her reassignment, what her duties aboard the ship would be as Gunnery Chief, and other miscellaneous data a new recruit should have that Captain Anderson had given her. Talking with her earlier had revealed that she harbored a not insignificant amount guilt that the crew saw her as a replacement for Jenkins. I did my best to dissuade her otherwise, but wasn't sure how much of that stuck. "Glad you're here with us, Chief," Shepard called out to her. "Alenko and I were just going up to the bridge to see the Citadel as we pull in to dock. You ever been to the Citadel?"

"I'd like that, ma'am. And no, ma'am, I haven't," Ashley responded.

Williams stood up, and rolled her shoulders, stretching the muscles in her neck. She'd been hunched there, pouring over the contents on the pad. Shepard and I followed suit. "Do you think Joker would kill me if I brought a cup of coffee with me?" I asked no one in particular.

Shepard arched an eyebrow at me. "What's that, cup number 3?"

"Not everyone had the pleasure of being knocked unconscious, ma'am," I replied and Ashley snorted behind me. "And this would be cup number 5."

Shepard arched an eyebrow. "Well, if he does, I'll kick open the cubby he thinks no one notices that's chalk full of potato chips and other salty comestibles."

"Nice to know our XO has our back," Ashley grinned. "Hurry up and pour a cup already, LT. If I miss the view 'cause you wanted a cup o' jo, there's gonna be hell to pay."

"While you're at, pour me a cup," Shepard chimed in. "My cup's the square blue one."

I shuffled around the cupboard, digging for the Commander's cup. I pulled out an oversized blue mug. The text around the rim said, "POLICE Public Call BOX." I suppressed a grin as I recognized _exactly_ where this cup had come from. I filled it up, sans modifiers and handed it to her. "Allons-y!" **

Shepard's eyes sparkled.

* VTA stands for Vancouver Technical Academy (something I completely made up).

** Doctor Who reference! Allons-y Alonso!


	9. Kaidan vs Neutral Gear

**Kaidan vs Neutral Gear**

-K-

"Can't trust politicians to do the right thing," Williams grumbled. I silently agreed with her, but kept the sentiment to myself. It would be unprofessional to agree with the expression of frustration in front of the Captain and the XO, even if we were all thinking exactly the same thing. Politicians had a dirty reputation for being underhanded, back-stabbing assholes. A better use of my breath, and therefore time, would be to find a way to fix the problem by giving the Council exactly what they wanted: concrete proof that Saren had not only been at Eden Prime, but that he was the driving force behind the attack.

Where we were going to find such a thing was beyond us at the moment.

The ugly far outweighed the pretty, but I'd take what we could get. At the very least, the Council was playing it "fair." Provided one used a lose definition of the term. Humans were new to the galactic scene, and Saren was a Spectre with over two decades of service. Two decades that the Council were not likely to brush aside just because a couple of rabble-rousing marines waltzed into the Council Chambers, pointed their fingers at him and said _he did it_, with only the claim of one dock-worker to back up the accusation. As much as the truth made bile rise in my throat, I couldn't entirely blame them for being skeptical. Had I not been there, I might have thought it sounded a bit grandiose as well. It didn't stop me from resenting the offhanded manner in which they'd dismissed Shepard's testimony.

If Shepard's icy expression was any indication of her opinion, she was thinking exactly the same thing.

I disapproved of the C-Sec investigation that had lasted all of 6 hours, give or take a few. The lead investigator had stormed out of the Council Chambers when Executor Palin declined his request to extend the investigation. Officer Vakarian seemed pretty sure that he had a lead that would blow everything out into the open, but the Council was closing the investigation before he could finish. I'd filed the incident away as curious, but without any real merit behind it. If C-Sec had halted the investigation, however, Vakarian's intel might come in handy. Unfortunately, after the meeting with the Council, his whereabouts couldn't be ascertained. Since our investigation was, strictly speaking, unofficial, we couldn't rely on Executor Palin to throw us a bone; something he'd been only to happy to remind us of when we'd asked.

Which is why we were now pushing our way through the market district in the wards, going off a tip the Captain had given. Since Udina had benched him for the duration of the investigation, Shepard was now the investigation lead. Udina didn't want to take any risks with Anderson and Saren's history muddying the waters.

We rounded the corner, passed a transportation hub, and spotted Chora's Den just down the path. Harkin was a C-Sec officer recently suspended from duty now that the Alliance could afford to stop covering his ass. According to our intel, he spent most of his time at the seedy club, enjoying too many drinks and too many bar fights. Shepard had tried asking a few questions at C-Sec headquarters as we passed through, but that had gotten her nowhere fast. The few officers that had spared us a moment of their time made it clear that Alliance marines had no business interfering in C-Sec matters.

"Quite the view," I stated as the doors to Chora's Den slid open and presented us with a head to toe view of 3 half-naked asari dancers swinging around poles. The black leather outfits hugged their figures, leaving nothing to the imagination.

"Uh, Lieutenant? Put your tongue back in your mouth before you trip on it," Ashley quipped. Shepard shook her head in amusement. "A million light-years from where humanity began and we walk into a bar filled with men drooling over half-naked women shaking their asses on a stage. I can't decide if that's funny or sad."

"How do you know they're not just here for the food?" I winked at Shepard as Ashley shook her head. The Commander laughed as we were waved in by the bouncer, obviously not considered a threat judging by the bouncer's lax attitude. Our sidearms only earned us slightly more scrutiny than normal. We pushed our way into the throng, passing tables and booths set into the wall. The club was more crowded than I'd anticipated for the time of day it was. The wards never really shut down. There were no day and night cycles on the Citadel except for the Presidium. Time was simply a number that had no real meaning outside the practical applications.

"I think that's Harkin over there," I yelled above the blaring music to the Commander as we rounded the center stage. Shepard leaned in closer and I nodded at a man wearing a wrinkled blue uniform that might once have been standard issue C-Sec BDU's.

"At least we know _you're_ here for the food."

"Tourism VI recommended the tacos."

I could feel the heat from Shepard's body as she bumped into me, letting a drunken patron stagger by. We slowly maneuvered through the hordes of people between us and Harkin, but were halted by two krogan blocking the path. I couldn't overhear the conversation, and Shepard signalled for us to wait it out with a raised hand.

The asari dancer on the table immediately to my left started making eyes at me as she wiggled two feet away. She winked as soon as I gave her my full attention and gestured to the empty chair at her table. I politely shook my head, and moved to step away from the table. Unfortunately, movement directly away from the table sent me knocking into Shepard's back.

Shepard steadied me with her hand, "Woah." I mumbled a quick apology.

Ashley nudged me in the ribs. "Might want to be careful, LT," she said. "That one might make you her dessert."

Shepard glanced at the table. The dancer winked at her, attempting to entice the Commander instead. "It's clear."

Harkin's bleary eyes focused on Shepard as we approached his table. Shepard sat down directly across from the suspended C-Sec officer, and Williams took the chair next to her. I positioned myself just off Shepard's right shoulder and kept my eye on the crowd. My days as a bouncer came in handy as I assumed the relaxed position I'd so often used to keep people moving along while studying at the Academy.

"Hey there princess, lookin' fer some fun? 'Cause I gotta say, that uniform looks real good on that bod of yours," he slurred, wavering in his seat. I eyed him up and down before returning my attention to the crowd, keeping one ear honed on the conversation and the other tuned into the crowd. "Why don't you sit your sweet lil' ass down on my lap. Have a drink and we'll see where this goes."

Shepard tapped her fingers on the table once. "I'd rather chew on a mouthful of razor blades."

I silently cheered. The crude way he hit on Shepard went against everything I'd been raised to believe. Chivalry, common courtesy, and generally "not being a dick." However, standing up for my XO while in uniform was out of the question. Shepard wasn't the sort of woman who needed to be protected. And I didn't need a boot in the ass about adhering to regs.

"If you think that'll hurt my feelings, you're in fer s'prize," Harkin sneered. "Y'know, if more marines looked like you, I might've joined the 'lliance instead."

"Harkin, right?" the drunk nodded. "I was told you could help me find someone. A turian C-Sec officer, last name Vakarian. Do you know him?"

"Yeah, I know Garrus." Harkin rolled his shoulders noncommittally.

"Do you know where I can find him?"

Harkin grinned and eyed the Commander up and down. "What you gonna pay me fer th'info?"

"A clean bill of health."

"You think that's gonna convince me?" Harkin waved his hand in her face. "What's the worst you could do, 'lliance? Threatening to punch me won't do anything, sweetheart."

"No," Shepard said and stood up. The simple act was predatory enough that Harkin cowered in his chair. "But if say Alenko here decided to throw you 'round the bar like a rag doll, I'd look the other way. Hard." She looked over at the Chief. "What time is it?"

"1800 hours, galactic standard, ma'am."

"You remember going to Flux, don't you Chief? I distinctly recall you had a bet with the LT about who could clean their sidearm the fastest while we waited for a lead to turn up."

"Sure did, ma'am. I lost. Had to buy a round of drinks," Williams grinned. "I'm a sore loser."

Harkin's stare shifted from Ashley to Shepard before falling on me. "Where can I find Garrus?" Shepard asked in a tone of voice that said _don't make me ask again._

"Alright, alright!" Harkin raised his hands defensively. "Garrus said somethin' 'bout going to the med-clinc by wards access."

"Thank you for your time." Shepard rose from her seat and I fell next to her, Williams taking up drag.

"Pleasant fellow," I observed once we'd left the club. The bass still reverberated in my teeth. My head felt like a walking maraca. I dug a thumb discreetly into my temple to relieve some of the pressure. Now that Shepard was up and about, staying up to make sure she'd be okay seemed more ridiculous than noble. I guess I'd never really dropped the romanticized notion of humanity pushing out into the stars, exploring the universe.

Or perhaps, it was just Shepard. I discreetly observed her from the corner of my eye as we walked through the lower markets. I'd be remiss if I didn't admit that I was... drawn to the Commander. She fought like hell and had the lungs to belt out orders with the best of them. But the regs against fraternization were pretty clear. Don't.

Shepard peeked over at me, opened her mouth, and closed it, tilting her head. That's when I realized I'd let my brain shift into neutral and had been looking at her for some time. The corner of her mouth quirked in an almost smile, and she said, "Come on, let's head to the med-clinic. Might be in time to catch Garrus."

"Hey, LT. What make is your gun? That's not Alliance standard."

I glanced back at Williams who was scrutinizing my pistol, attempting to get a clear view despite the holster keeping it in place. "M-6 Carnifex."

"No joke?" Shepard asked, leaning around to get a look at it. "I'm still using my Razer. I heard all the hoop-la about the Carnifex, but it hasn't made its way to requisitions."

"You both can look at it later," I said, pausing in my stride to allow a rushed civilian pass by as I held out a hand to prevent her from bull-dozing straight into me, and received a grateful smile of thanks. Once the Carnifex had hit the market, I'd already sealed the deal to purchase it from a private vendor while docked at Arcturus. Top of the line thermal technology, combined with a high-calibre barrel made it a lethal weapon any self-respecting tech-head biotic would immediately figure into their arsenal. It was the optimum choice of sidearm for deploying tech mines and hacks while being able to still fire a gun. It also made biotic offensive and defensive strikes more effective.

"Why later?" Williams inquired.

"I'd draw my gun now, but it might frighten the civilians."

"Mmm," Shepard nodded. "Save the terror for another day." I suppressed the urge to grin, but only barely. "So Chief. I take it you're still using the Kessler?"

"Yeah. Piece of crap hanging off my hip."

"Kessler isn't so bad if you get the right upgrades. Besides, you strike me as the assault rifle kind of gal."

"Through and through, Commander. Saved up my paychecks for half a year so I could get my hands on the ERSC Banshee... look at _that!_" The Chief ducked away and made a beeline for the observation deck immediately to our right. Shepard looked at me and arched an amused eyebrow before motioning for us to accompany Williams.

I followed the Commander to the railway and stood on the other side of the Chief from her as I took in the awesome view. Before I could activate the mechanism that normally prevented me from saying otherwise un-intelligent phrases, I uttered, "Big place," unable to contain some of the awe I felt as I beheld the sheer size of the Citadel. Thousands of little pinpricks designated air-cars and shuttles flitting about from one place to another, and made me actually feel the sheer size of the station beneath me.

Williams nudged me in the ribs. "That your professional opinion, LT?"

"He's right, Chief. This isn't a station, it's a city."

Williams looked from one of us to the other and muttered, "Don't tell me I signed on with a bunch of saps."

"There must be millions here. It can't be possible to track everyone coming and going."

She scrunched her eyes close and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Or geeks."

"This makes Jump Zero look like a dollhouse, and it's the largest space station we have," Shepard continued, dutifully ignoring the feigned melodramatic exposé from the Chief.

I peered at her over Williams' exaggerated expression of disbelief. "Jump Zero is big, but this is a whole 'nother scale. Look at the ward arms." I followed my own advice and noticed both women followed my line of sight. "How do they keep all that mass from flying apart?"

Shepard got a contemplative look about her. Williams simply arched an eyebrow as she eyed me up and down. "You sure you're in the right field, Alenko? Maybe you missed your true calling."

Before I could open my mouth to respond, Shepard spoke up. "The Council represents more races than I thought. No wonder they're careful around newcomers."

"Yeah," I agreed. "It has to be hard keeping all these cultures working together."

"Or maybe they just don't like humans," Williams stated, a touch of something not quite bitterness, as that might be too strong - but definitely in the family, touching her voice.

I glanced at the Chief, debating the merits of reprimanding a soldier on duty for expressing a seemingly distasteful opinion that could potentially be interpreted the wrong way, before deciding that her comment, while a reflection of deeply held beliefs, wasn't out of line. It was simply a sentiment I personally didn't agree with, but didn't have the right to balk at coming from someone else.

"Why not?" Shepard retorted, and I moved my gaze to her as she leaned against the railing and glanced at the Chief out of the corner of her eye before sweeping a hand before her dramatically. "We've got oceans, beautiful women, this emotion called love. According to the old vids, we've got everything they want."

"When you put it that way, there's no reason they wouldn't like you." Crap, did I really just say that out loud? I back-peddled, and my brain confirmed that yes, in fact, I _had_ spoken out loud. As a matter of fact, both marines were now staring at me, one with a slightly startled expression, the other with one of bemusement that spoke of an underlying urge to laugh. "I mean us. Humans. Ma'am."

Williams broke out into a wide smile and small laugh of delight escaped her lips. "You don't get out much, do you LT?"

"All right, laugh it up, Chief," Shepard replied, and Williams focused her grin on the Commander instead, eyes sparkling at my obvious embarrassment. Shepard shoved off the railing and smiled at me. The same kind of genuine smile she'd given me aboard the _Normandy_. The order to hike my ass back to the ship didn't come, and I was relieved that my slip of the tongue wasn't going to land me in hot water.

Williams' head swivelled from Shepard to me, before she winked at me and said to Shepard, "I'll walk drag, ma'am."

Shepard broke eye contact and arched an eyebrow at the Chief, the smile fading into a smirk. "With that piece of junk on your hip, you better."


	10. Kaidan vs The Club

**Kaidan vs The Club**

-K-

"What the hell do you want now?" The angry owner of Chora's Den blocked our entrance to his club, which had been open only hours earlier. Now it was completely trashed, as if all the patrons had suddenly and violently decided to vacate the premises.

His expression changed as soon as he turned around. He clicked his mouth shut and his jaw worked furiously. We obviously weren't who he expected to be barging through his front door in spite of the sign indicating that the establishment was presently closed.

Shepard spoke up, "Well, for starters, I'd like to know what the hell happened."

Fist threw himself onto a stool, kicking a nearby cushion away.

"You with C-Sec?"

"Do I look like a C-Sec officer?"

Fist eyed the Commander up and down from his position atop the stool. I captured her attention while Fist was preoccupied and jerked my head a fraction of an inch at the interior of the club. Shepard nodded ever so slightly before returning her attention to Fist, and I began easing around the room to assess the damage.

"No. You look like you're Alliance."

Williams followed my lead and moved around the room in the opposite direction. Fist appeared oblivious of our actions, or simply didn't care. I imagined as long as we continued to not decimate his place, he would continue to ignore our presence.

"They teach you that in scumbag class?"

"Ha ha, funny." Fist clenched his side. From my new vantage point, I could see that he'd been injured, probably only a graze considering his ability to carry on a conversation. "Are you gonna tell me why the hell you're in my club, Alliance?"

Shepard moved closer to Fist, kicking a stool up off the floor and catching it in her hand. She sat down on the stool. "Depends on if you answer my question first."

"It's my club."

"And if you want it to continue being your club, you better not question the person holding the bigger guns."

Fist grunted and considered the Commander's words. I turned away from the conversation to examine the area behind the bar and what looked like a door leading to a back office. I motioned at Williams to investigate and she disappeared through the entrance. This area was largely untouched, though there were definite indications of a scuffle. Bootmarks on the wall, bullet holes scattered at chest level, and the tables were pushed onto their sides, likely to provide makeshift cover.

No bodies, though.

"...not going to be there. I set her up. Instead of the Shadow Broker, she'll run into a troop of Saren's mercs."

"You sonofabitch," Shepard growled, leaping off her chair. I moved back around the bar, behind Fist in case he tried anything against Shepard. Not that it was likely considering his condition. Blood had seeped through his clothes. "When and where?"

Fist knocked himself backwards over the stool as Shepard approached him, fumbling to maintain his balance.

"First you and now the turian? What the hell do you people want?"

"The time and location of the meeting." Shepard seized Fist by his collar and shoved him roughly against the bar. "Now."

"Back alley behind the lower markets, just a couple blocks from here! Next to a keeper station," he hesitated, and licked his lips. "If you leave now, you might make it in time."

Sonofa_bitch_.

Williams emerged from the room and handed me an OSD before positioning herself one o'clock from my position. She unholstered her pistol but kept it pointed low to the ground.

"Don't frak with me!"

Fist pulled away from Shepard's grasp and attempted to roll over the edge of the bar. I captured him in a biotic field, pulling him back in front of the Commander. Williams smirked and lowered her gun back to the ground.

Fist's eyes rolled into the back of his head as he avoided meeting the Commander's gaze while she drilled him for the truth. Then his head exploded.

I reacted instantly, erecting a barrier around Shepard with one hand while I deployed a widespread throw-field with the other, aiming it at the front door. It wouldn't do as much damage as a targeted throw, but it'd be enough to knock the newcomer down. The intruder roared as the field hit him, and I realized the newcomer was a krogan merc we'd encountered earlier in this very club. Williams leveled her gun at the krogan, carefully approaching him from the side.

The krogan grumbled as he pulled himself to his feet, clearly pissed off. But to his credit, he didn't raise his gun despite being confronted with three angry marines.

Shepard walked straight up to him, sidearm directed at the krogan's head. Blood was spattered across her face. "Who the hell are you?"

"Urdnot Wrex. I've got no quarrel with you, human. Tell your pets to back off."

I bristled at being called 'pet," which Shepard must have picked up on, or she was smart enough to know that marines being referred to as "pets" was grounds for said marines to become suddenly and extraordinarily pissed off, because she discreetly opened the palm of her hand behind her back, then raised her fist. I let the biotic energy I'd amassed dissipate. Williams scowled, but lowered her gun. She pointedly didn't holster it.

"The Shadow Broker hired me to eliminate Fist."

"Because he turned coat. Started taking money from Saren instead."

Wrex assessed the Commander, an aura of menace radiating from him. "Exactly. Who hired you?"

Shepard holstered her pistol, giving a clear indication to Williams that she should do the same. "No one. Fist was a part of my investigation."

"To track down Saren?"

"Yes."

The krogan paced in front of us before turning back to the Commander. "I want to join your investigation."

Shepard stiffened, and the silence stretched out as she contemplated his request.

"Look, human -"

"Commander Shepard."

"- Shepard. If you're going to bring down Saren, then you're going to want me along." His eyes slid to me then Williams before settling back on Shepard. "You're going to need all the help you can get."

"Speaking from experience?"

Wrex stared at Shepard, his expression flat, but she didn't back off. Something the krogan clearly respected. "Perhaps."

"All right." Ashley groaned quietly next to me. "You can come with us. Do you know where the back alley behind the lower markets is?"

"Yes."

"Then you take point, Wrex. Our clock is running out." The krogan lumbered off and Shepard fell in next to me. "Is he...?"

I looked at her, before nodding. "Yes, he's a biotic. He started amassing as soon as he rose, but released once we stood down."

"Could you have taken him?"

The question took me by surprise, but I tried not to let it show on my face. I eyed her sideways before answering. "Yes."

Shepard nodded, accepting my succinct answer. "Nice barrier by the way. It didn't keep out all the nasty bits, but, all things considered..."

"Just doing my duty, ma'am."

Shepard's lips quirked in an almost smile. Wrex led us out of the streets surrounding Chora's Den and into more reputable areas of the wards. Not that these streets could be considered any less dangerous, the thugs were simply more civilized here. They'd probably tell you before they shot you. Small comforts.

Wrex lead us down a couple streets through the lower markets before we arrived at the corner of the alley indicated by Fist. He halted at the entrance and looked at Shepard, letting her direct the op instead. Shepard raised an eyebrow, but didn't question his actions.

"Williams, can you get in for a peek. Quietly?"

"Aye, ma'am."

"Then go. If the situation is hot, radio us immediately. Don't strike until we're there."

Williams nodded and slid around the corner, sticking to the shadows. Fortunately, the dim lighting in the wards provided many places to hide from unwanted attention.

Wrex lumbered to the other side of the alley and leaned against the corner of a shop in a good appearance of boredom. Shepard brushed up against me and opened her omni-tool as if she was showing me something good. She tilted her head in such a way that most onlookers would assume the situation was of an intimate nature.

"I'm not sure if Garrus is here. I haven't seen any sign of him. You?"

I stabbed a finger at her omni and managed a stupid grin, but said, "No. Quick visual scan of the area came up clean."

"They must be deep in the alley," Shepard's voice was at odds with the happy expression painted on her face. "If it gets hot, I want you to..." she waved her arm in an imitation of the mnemonic gesture I used to create a pull field, "... do your thing."

My grin this time was real, if small. "Understood."

She shut her omni off and leaned against the wall, facing me. "You and me? We got a date with the training room when this is over. This?" She repeated the awkward gesture. "Not my finest moment."

"Permission to speak off the record?"

"Granted."

"It was damn funny."

Shepard smirked.

"_Commander, situation is about to get very hot!"_ Williams whispered fiercely over the radio. _"The quarian is backing away from a group of baddies, and they've got that twitchy, trigger-happy look about them."_

"Roger that, Williams," Shepard replied. She motioned to Wrex that the situation was a go and slipped into the alley.

We followed the Commander single file down the alley swiftly and silently, sticking to the shadows. Shepard paused behind a rail and pointed at rail further down with two fingers. I silently moved ahead.

"_Williams, what's your position?"_

"_Two meters from the quarian. She just threw a flash grenade and launched herself backwards! We need you here, now!"_

I turned the safety off on my pistol and tore out of cover, just ahead of the Commander. I erected a barrier around my body and threw myself into the fray of bullets, tossing the closest merc with a wave of my hand, searching for the quarian. That's when I noticed that Vakarian was on the far side of the alley, approaching the thugs from behind.

"Commander, I've got a visual on Garrus!"

"Got it!" she shouted amidst a hail of bullets.

My barrier took a few hits and I threw the mercs responsible. In a few short minutes, most of the thugs were down. Wrex headbutted the last one standing, which sent the salarian flying. I felt no pity for him as his head cracked against the wall.

The quarian rose from cover, red and blue blood spattered on her visor. "Thank you..."

"Commander Shepard."

"... Commander, for saving my life. But why were you here?"

"Looking for you. You have something I need in my investigation against Saren."

"Then I have a chance to repay you," she replied. "But not here."

"I agree," Garrus said, walking up next to Shepard. "Shepard, I did not expect to see you here. At least now I don't have to find you."

"Find me?"

"You're pursuing Saren, right?" Shepard nodded curtly. "I've been chasing that bastard for a long time. This is as much my investigation as it is yours. I want to join you."

"All right, Garrus. You can come."

"I'm not sure if the Executor will like all of us barging into his office."

I interrupted. "Commander, Udina's office should be safe enough. Him and Anderson will want to see whatever..."

"Tali'Zorah nar Rayya."

"...Tali has managed to find."

Shepard nodded. "Let's head out."


	11. Kaidan vs The Presidium

**Kaidan vs The Presidium**

-K-

"Congratulations, Commander," I extended my hand to Shepard, and she accepted it.

"Thank you, Lieutenant."

"Shepard," Udina interrupted. He rubbed his chin. "We're going to need to get you a ship, supplies... intel. Anderson, come with me. We've got a lot of work to do. Shepard, I'll radio you when we've got everything figured out. For now, the time is yours to do as you please. Take a much needed break."

Williams raised an eyebrow as Udina marched away. "I'm sure something he said was politician speak for, 'congratulations, Commander. Hell of a job! Top notch!'"

"I'd like to hear Udina say, 'top notch,'" I mused aloud.

"Looks like we've got some free time," Shepard said, and Williams rotated to face her. "Garrus, Wrex, Tali, keep in radio contact. Get your affairs in order. For now, have your personal effects delivered to the _Normandy_. We can have them moved later if necessary."

The non-humans took off after a few quick fair wells and directions, heading their separate ways. Williams hovered at the edge of the staircase.

"Ashley, if you want to skip out, go for it. We're officially off duty." The use of Williams' given name startled the Chief, but she recovered quickly, grinned at the Commander, and took off down the steps to who knows where. "Same goes for you, Alenko."

"If you don't mind my saying so, ma'am, you look like a woman on a mission," Shepard arched an eyebrow. "And if you're going to spend your off duty time working, then I'd like to help."

"All right, but in a few hours time when you're quietly cursing yourself for tagging along, just remember that you only have yourself to blame."

"It just makes good sense to have someone to back up in case you get in a bind. So where are we headed first?"

Shepard started down the stairs at a brisk pace. "This Matriarch Benezia is our only real lead, but we've got next to nothing on her. That means seeking out an information broker -"

Shepard paused on the stairs, raising a hand to the commlink in her ear. I halted a few steps below her. "I'll be right there," she said, then lowered her hand. "Wait here. I'll be just a moment."

I arched an eyebrow, but didn't question the Commander as she swiftly turned on the staircase and headed back the way we came. I didn't entirely avert my gaze from her rapidly disappearing form, and mentally slapped myself once I realized what I'd just caught myself doing.

The view from the top of the staircase of the rest of the Citadel tower was really quite impressive. I imagined that maintaining the trees and various other forms of nature was hard, probably the only landscaping job that required a security clearance and a background check equivalent to C-Sec inspecting each individual item in your name. But it was nice. Peaceful. Even if that peace was a mask that most of the people here wore as they schemed quietly beneath the surface to further their own goals.

"Excuse me, but aren't you a part of Commander Shepard's ground team?" a small asian woman asked, peering up at me from the stairs.

"Lieutenant Alenko, and yes, I am," I answered guardedly.

The woman moved closer and extended her hand. "My name is Emily Wong, and I'm a reporter for Citadel News Net." I accepted her hand graciously, unconsciously plastering my heavily practiced game face on. "I understand that Commander Shepard recently performed a raid on Fist's club."

"That's true."

"Did you happen to come across anything incriminating? I was sure he was involved in the corruption and organized crime that's so pervasive on the Citadel."

I contemplated the sincerity of the reporter and ultimately decided that she didn't appear to possess the snake-like quality I'd encountered in others. She came across as sincere, and any story about organized crime would definitely benefit from the OSD Ashley had swiped from Fist's office, which I knew contained incriminating information about Fist's actions. Not that his involvement mattered so much any more considering his current status as 'recently deceased.' And I'd already made a copy of the information, so handing the OSD over didn't pose a problem.

"We did," I said, and pulled the OSD from a pocket in my fatigues and handed it to her. She smiled delightedly at me.

"Thank you so much, Lieutenant! This will be a big help. My previous source indicated that Fist was operating a ring..."

I held out a hand to calm her excitement and she grinned sheepishly at me.

"I can pay you," she started to say, but I held up my hand again.

"That's not necessary. Just tell the truth."

"I won't forget this." With that, the reporter skipped off and made a beeline for the rapid transit station to summon a cab.

If I had the slightest inkling of what Shepard's plan was, I'd hail a cab as well. But considering she'd been interrupted before she told me her master plan, I was left to my own devices to entertain myself on my pseudo-shore leave, contemplating the exact reasons why I had offered to stick behind and help Shepard even Udina had effectively told us we were off duty until things were figured out. A sense of duty? Honor?

Perhaps because in the back of my mind, I'd recognized that Shepard wasn't exactly satisfied with the current state of affairs, that she'd use this time to find out as much as she could without anyone cross-checking her work over her shoulder. Hell, it's what I'd do in her position.

I thought fondly of the sleeper pods on the _Normandy_ and mentally calculated exactly how long I'd been awake. Too damn long. My stomach growled its own complaints, and I amended my previous thought to include lack of food because now that I actually thought about it, I was hungry.

Fortunately, I'd had the foresight to stash an energy bar in the lower pocket of my pants, which I quickly retrieved and devoured with brutal efficiency. The flat vaguely vitamin-rich taste of the bar left something to be desired, but nourishment was nourishment. And if it kept me from falling over in front of Shepard, it was worth the ever so slightly metallic powdery aftertaste.

A hand waved in front of my face and I focused on Shepard standing in front of me, a slight grin tugging at the corner of her lips.

"Well, at least I'm not drooling," I said and the grin blossomed into a smile.

Shepard started heading down the stairs and I reached my hand out to stop her. "Hey, a reporter approached me not too long after you left, wanting information from Fist's office. Something about organized crime on the Citadel, he was a ring-leader and had some intel that might help her blow the story wide open." Shepard's face remained neutral. "I handed her the OSD since I created back up."

Shepard shrugged. "All right."

Wow, really? "Just figured you should know, Commander. She seemed to hold you in high esteem."

"That's a first, really?" she asked as she started down the stairs again. I jogged to catch up to her.

"Is that so hard to believe?"

"Reporters like to hound me, not _like_ me."

"Well, I've had media training and I like you."

"Yeah, but you're also a marine."

"I could quit. Then what would you say?"

"That you seem incapable of hating anyone."

"Hmm," I conceded, then brightened. "I kind of hate Saren."

"Touché."

"So where are we headed, ma'am?" I asked. Shepard punched the button to summon the elevator.

"Right!" she exclaimed and leaned against the rail. "The asari Councilor called me back to inform me that Matriarch Benezia has a daugher named Liara T'Soni. She's apparently spent the past 50 years mucking about various Prothean dig sites around the galaxy, so she might be hard to track down. But I imagine there's something in my brain she might just know about, and she might be able to enlighten us about her mother's sudden alliance with a rogue turian Spectre."

The elevator doors hissed open and we stepped in. Shepard hit the button for the Presidium and the doors closed, beginning the descent.

"Provided she's willing to help," I said and Shepard nodded.

"Yeah, kind of a big if, but it's the only real lead we've got so far. All I can hope for is that Saren doesn't have everything mapped out all neat and tidy, that he's winging it just as much as we are. Which is why we're headed to an information broker in the financial district. We need to find Liara before Saren gets it in his mind to do the same thing."

"Any chance we'll be able to dig up information about the Conduit?"

Shepard scoffs. "Unlikely. I have a feeling its a Prothean or Reaper thing, and Liara's probably our only chance at figuring out what it might be. We need her on our side."

The elevator finally arrived and we entered the cramped space, the doors shutting behind us. The view of the ward arms slowly slid up the window and for the second time, took my breath away. Staring out the thick pane of glass that was the only protection between me and the vacuum of space made me feel...

"Makes you feel small," Shepard murmured, standing next to me with her arms folded across her chest.

"It really does." Shepard smiled at me, the expression warm before sliding her eyes back to the Serpent Nebula.

The rest of the trip passed in comfortable silence, aside from one growl from my stomach which caused Shepard to arch an eyebrow in amusement, before her own stomach joined the chorus.

"I guess food is next on the agenda," she said as the doors slid open and we exited onto the Presidium. We took two steps out, allowing the elevator to close behind us, before we stopped. "Do you have any idea where the Financial District is?"

I peered around and then shook my head. "No idea whatsoever, ma'am."

"What happened to that tourism VI you mentioned. The one that recommended the tacos?"

"It also recommended the curry at Thaimazing, which I know is just bad."

"Well, looks like we're screwed then."

"There's the tried and true method of walking until we find it," I offered and Shepard shook her head in amusement. "Or, we could ask for directions. There's an Avina VI over there."

"Welcome to the Presidium, allow me to be your guide," the VI stated as Shepard and I approached it. A keeper was fiddling with a console two feet away from Avina, the weird little radio pack on its back bobbing up and down in time with its ministrations to the panel.

"Where is the Financial District?" Shepard asked, and the VI stretched out her hand, a top down display of the immediate area around the Presidium flashing into existence.

"The Financial District is across the bridge from this location. Is there any other way I can provide assistance?"

Shepard studied the map. "Are there maps available for download?"

"Maps of the Presidium can be downloaded through this station. Please allow me to access your omni-tool."

Shepard held out her hand, omni-tool blazing into life, and accepted the request from Avina. A few seconds later, the maps were transferred and Avina lowered her hand.

"That'll be all," Shepard said, studying the maps. The Financial District could not have been any closer than it was, leaving us feeling slightly sheepish that we'd asked for directions to a place that was only a 5 minute walk away.

"Thank you for choosing Avina. Have a pleasant day."

We walked across the lake over an arching bridge. The sound of the flowing water was soothing, and perpetuated the air of peacefulness that permeated the Presidium ring. The fake blue sky above us further enhanced the illusion, very nearly tricking my brain into believing that I was actually standing outside on a planet rather than on a space station.

A low hum vibrated the back of my teeth causing me to look around for the source. I slowed my pace and Shepard paused, looking at me questioningly.

"Do you hear that?" I asked and she cocked her head to the side before shaking her head. I shrugged. "Huh... kind of like a low hum."

Shepard looked around, too, and her eyes settled on the Relay Monument, a perfectly to scale replica of an actual mass relay constructed by the Protheans. I couldn't decide if they'd built it as a display of arrogance of the power the relays granted them, or because the relays inevitably brought all the unique races of the galaxy together in one place. Probably the latter. At least, the optimistic with a tendency to lean towards the romantic aspect of myself certainly hoped it was the latter. If they hadn't disappeared, they would have been here to greet us as one by one as we discovered the massive station.

That would have been something.

Shepard tapped me on the shoulder. "Come on. My contact's name is Barla Von. Anderson recommended him."

"Ah."

"Here it is," she pointed at an office overlooking the lake of the Presidium and we approached the doors. They slid open quietly and I followed Shepard into the lavish office. A small volus sat on the other side of the large desk, and peeked over his terminal.

"Commander Shepard, welcome." His mechanized voice echoed in the chamber.

Shepard sat down across from him, and I stood at her four o'clock, relaxing into a comfortable parade rest. "How do you know who I am?"

"Please, Commander. Word of your promotion to the Spectres has already hit every major news network and continues to spread. What others don't know is how you got it." The volus closed his terminal and folded his small arms on the desk in front of him. "You did the Shadow Broker a favor by eliminating Fist."

"Did I?"

That was news to me, too. I knew that Fist had turned on the Shadow Broker by dealing with Saren instead. I couldn't even begin to imagine what Saren had offered him for him to do such a thing in the first place.

"Any information you seek today will be free."

"I need to locate Doctor Liara T'Soni."

"Matriarch Benezia's daughter, yes," Barla Von breathed. "She's been operating at various Prothean dig sites, but I can narrow her current location down and have it to you by the end of the day."

"All right," Shepard started to rise, but the volus held out a hand.

"For a small fee, I can have Matriarch Benezia's movements tracked to aid you in your... investigation."

Shepard remained half-in, half-out of her seat as she assessed the volus before sitting back down. "How small are we talking?"

"The office of the Spectres will cover most of the cost, but tracking a Matriarch is no small feat. I'll require an additional 3,000 credits on top of what the office pays."

Shepard's fingers tapped on the edge of the desk as she contemplated her answer. I felt like what he was asking was ridiculous. I didn't have access to Spectre expense accounts, and didn't know the extent of the funds available to Shepard. Undoubtedly, not all of it would be diverted to the Broker because that would be a ludicrous expenditure with an iffy outcome at best.

"Ok," Shepard said, and I stared at the back of her head in mild amazement.

"Excellent. Whenever I have something of interest to report, I'll contact you. Or you can feel free to drop by whenever your excursions take you back here to the Citadel."

We vacated the information broker's office and started meandering down the side of the walkway next to the lake. I noticed a few coins near the edges. Humanities quirks were following us to the center of galactic civilization. I could just imagine what the Presidium groundskeepers must think of earth currency resting at the bottom of the lake.

"Do you want to stop by Spectre Requisitions with me after food?"

"Are you kidding me?" I retorted, feeling the child-like excitement creeping through me at the mere prospect of getting to look at all the weapons and armor Spectres had access to. "Not saying I'm going to give up my Carnifex..."

"... But any chance to look at new toys is impossible to pass up?" Shepard finished for me.

"Exactly."

"All right, but food first because if I don't eat something in the next 20 minutes, I'm liable to go on a shooting spree."

"And I'd hate to have to take you in," I nodded sagely.

"It would be embarrassing."

"According to this map, there's a small diner not 10 minutes away from us," I peered over at her. "Do you think _they_ have good tacos?"

"Diner? Unlikely. More likely to get some sort of funky french dip."

"Well, you can't have everything."


	12. Kaidan vs The Sleep Deprivation

**Kaidan vs The Sleep Deprivation**

-K-

"Is there anything else you'd like to check out, Commander?" the Spectre requisitions officer asked, and Shepard shook her head.

"No, I want to give everything a test run first before I expand it to my entire ground team."

"Thanks for letting me be a lab rat, Commander," I said.

Alliance Onyx armor was decent. Pretty basic, but when you had to outfit an entire fleet of marines, the more expensive gear was reserved for the best. The Serrice Council designed armor intrigued me with its unique ability to interface with biotic amps, improving the power output and regen time by interfacing with backup power relays. I was going to have fun with this. I was already mapping out the different algorithms I'd have to reprogram on my omni-tool to interface properly and take full advantage of what this armor had to offer.

I would have to use my backup amp first time through, just in case. I didn't want to blow out the savant amp I'd purchased a few months back, therefore wasting the thousands of credits spent on that small piece of technology that had such large control of my central nervous system.

"If I'd known it'd be this easy to keep you happy, I wouldn't have paid for dinner," she answered, inspecting the set of armor she'd selected for its omni-tool interfacing technology and the prototype ceramic plates lining the heavier portions beneath the dermoplastic hard ballistic shell typically used. "Did you take a look at this rifle?"

I leaned over her shoulder to get a closer look. The HMW Sniper Rifle was nearly as big as my leg. "Are you sure you can lift that thing? It looks like a _truck._"

Shepard rotated her face to look at me and arched an eyebrow. "Say that one more time, I dare you."

I reached down to pick the specs sheet up. "Oh look at that, improved heat sink technology."

Shepard smirked at me as she took the sheet from my fingers. I could see the faint white scar outlining her eye and another I hadn't noticed earlier that ran lengthwise across her eyebrow. There was a third scar at the corner of her mouth, tugging ever so slightly upwards, lending her permanent faint smirk. She noticed me looking and fingered the one beneath her eye with her right hand.

"Elysium. Got a little too friendly with some shrapnel."

"Damn," I answered. A half inch higher, and it would have taken out her eye. The damage would have been temporary, cybernetics could have replaced the missing eye. But just because one could lose an eye and get a new one didn't mean that one should.

"Yeah," she said and leaned against the edge of the table thoughtfully, "It's got nothing on these three scars right here." She lifted her arm and gestured at a spot starting three inches below her armpit and ending in the soft center of her waist. "Some of the bridges on Elysium have three-pronged guard rails at even intervals. I was holed up beneath a beam with a squad of civvies when the batarians launched an aerial strike against our position. First blast knocked me backwards as I attempted to secure the area, second one sent flying over the edge straight through the prongs, down onto the streets below."

"How the hell did you survive that?"

"Hell if I know," she grinned. "Sheer strength of will. Hold on."

She stepped back and raised her hand to her ear. "This is Commander Shepard." She mouthed 'Udina' at me and pointed at the gear before backing away a few steps from the table. "I've got Alenko with me in Spectre Requisitions."

"Can we have these delivered to the _Normandy?_"

The turian requisitions officer nodded. "Which docking bay?"

"Alliance bay D-12."

"The packages will be there within the hour. I just need you to sign here." He flipped a datapad around and I signed above the line, despite the fact that Commander Shepard's name was beneath it.

"We'll be right there." She turned around to look at me, gesturing for me to follow her. "Udina says he and Anderson worked out the details."

The trip to the embassies was uneventful and passed in silence. Perhaps because the longevity of my day was quickly surpassing reason, I barely noticed the trip at all. I was pushing 36 hours of straight awake time and my thoughts were quickly and fondly beginning to center around the sleeper pods. Because I was beginning to feel the effects of having been awake since a few hours before Eden Prime. I wouldn't need to do anything to the pod aside from close the damn lid and make sure my alarm was set for the next shift. I felt like I could sleep for a day.

"Shepard, Alenko," Udina greeted as we entered. Anderson was sitting at a small round table near the balcony, overlooking the Presidium, and Udina gestured for us to join him there. "I have big news for you, Shepard. Anderson has agreed to step down as Captain of the _Normandy_. She's yours now."

He... what? I exchanged a dubious look with Shepard, partially surprised that she'd looked to me first, then stared back up at Udina before settling my gaze to Anderson. He and Shepard were looking at each other, as if they were having a conversation purely with their eyes. Shepard seemed to be searching for something that would give her some sort of answer about the situation, while Anderson simply nodded at her that he was going to do this, because Saren needed to be taken down. And if this is what it cost, then so be it.

My respect for the Captain increased tenfold, because I wasn't so sure that if I were in his position, I'd be able to step down as gracefully as he had. The best ship in the Alliance fleet had been his for barely 5 days, and now it was being passed off to humanity's Spectre.

"Thank you, Captain." It felt like an eternity had passed, but Udina had only just finished speaking and was in the process of extending his hand to Shepard.

"Do us proud, Commander. And be sure to report back to the Council." A big fat slap in the face, reminding an Alliance officer to report back in. Shepard's eyes narrowed a fraction of an inch which went unnoticed by Udina, as the ambassador moved towards the door. "I'll leave you alone with Anderson, so you can discuss your plan of attack and get the details of the transfer settled."

Shepard waited until Udina left before turning back to the Captain. "What's the real reason you're stepping down, Anderson?"

"I had my shot 20 years ago, Shepard. The Council considered me as a candidate for the Spectres. I didn't make the cut. It's... not something I'm proud of." His shoulders dropped a fraction of an inch, indicating that despite the neutral tone of his voice, the event still bothered him. "I have faith in you, and you're going to need the best for this mission. That's the _Normandy_ and her crew. Lieutenant, am I wrong in assuming that the crew will follow her just like they did me?"

"No, sir."

Anderson nodded matter-of-factly, considering the issue settled. "I can help you best from here, anyway. Cross-referencing intel, keeping an ear open, making sure Udina doesn't do something we'll live to regret. The last thing we need is a politician deciding his career is worth more than the mission."

"How come you never told me the mission with Saren was about joining the Spectres?"

"It's not because I didn't trust you, Shepard. Because I do. You're the finest marine I've ever had the honor to work with. I didn't tell you because I didn't want to you be ashamed."

Shepard's eyes flicked towards me so fast I almost didn't notice it. "Nothing you could do would ever make me ashamed of you."

Wow, personal conversation. But I couldn't think of a way to excuse myself without looking like an ass, and neither the Captain nor the Commander had decided to give me the boot so my presence must not have bothered them as much as it made me feel awkward. Fiddling with my omni-tool would blatantly let them know that I felt awkward about listening to something that was of a personal nature rather than a professional one, so I shoved that idea out of my mind. I knew that we were technically off duty and I shouldn't worry about it, but I did anyway. Instead, I sat quietly at the table, slapping an expression of polite interest on my face, hands neatly folded in front of me.

"Olivia, make sure Saren pays for what he's done. Don't let him get the jump on you like he did me."

"Aye aye, sir."

Anderson stood up from the table. "Do you have a starting place?"

Shepard joined him as he walked over to Udina's desk. "We do. Councilor Tevos informed me that Matriarch Benezia has a daughter who specialize in Prothean history."

"That can certainly come in handy."

"Exactly. I'm hoping at the very least, she can give us information about what the Conduit might be, and why Saren would be after it."

"Sounds solid, Shepard," Anderson said and smiled at her the way a father might smile at his favorite daughter. "My comm. is always open for you."

Shepard returned his smile, "Thank you, Anderson." She stuck out her hand, but Anderson pulled her into a quick hug.

"I'm not your CO now, Shepard. And frankly, that wouldn't have stopped me anyway. Regs be damned, I'm proud of you."

He released her and I once again (though by this point, the litany shouldn't have surprised me) found myself surprised at, frankly, how _human_ the hero of Elysium was. And that, despite the fact that she was my CO, I considered her to also be a friend. If we weren't on the same posting, I imagined that we'd share a beer and show each other our scars and share war stories.

Perhaps, I mused, I should take a leaf from Anderson's book and loosen up.

Such considerations should be held for when I was capable of thinking about them straight.

I saluted the Captain once the conversation drew to a close, realizing I'd missed the tail end. He returned my salute with dignity and respect. Yeah, he'd been sidelined. He'd willingly stepped down so Shepard could complete the mission without the crew being torn in two directions. If I recognized these motivations from simply shaking the Captain's hand, then I knew that Shepard felt it tenfold.

The walk back to the _Normandy_ was a lot quieter than our earlier journeys. The quiet of change and expectation. Of setting out on a new mission.

Not to mention the quiet of desperately needing to finally frakking sleep.


	13. Kaidan vs The Onsie

**Kaidan vs The Onsie**

-K-

"Lieutenant Alenko, can I ask you something?"

I looked up from my plate of food at the turian standing directly across from me. "Go ahead."

"Do you know where the dextro-based food would be stored?"

Oh shit. "No, but I know the Commander requisitioned it shortly after you joined the squad."

Garrus sat down on the bench opposite me. "I suppose I can wait." The turian drummed his talons on the table, looking slightly uncomfortable. "Do you know how often we'll be docking at the Citadel?"

"I imagine whenever we need information or have something to report to the Council." I surreptitiously eyed Garrus. "Any particular reason?"

The turian shrugged noncommittally. "Just have a friend that I'd like to keep in touch with as much as possible. My partner in C-Sec. I guess ex-partner now. He wasn't too happy about that, but what can you do? Executor Pallin pulled me off the investigation we were working on and assigned me to Saren. Didn't want a human getting involved. Turians can be proud."

"I'm sure if the situation had been reversed, the human equivalent of the Executor would have done the same."

"That's what my partner said."

"So your partner was human?" I was genuinely intrigued at a turian/human pair in C-Sec, because even though the First Contact War was 25 years in the past, it wasn't common to see a turian and a human actively working together and liking it. Not that it was completely outside the realm of possibility. I'd known plenty of turians that hadn't hated humans. Nihlus was the most recent example.

"For two years. Obnoxious little bastard, but a great friend. The best, actually. What about you, any best friends?"

"Just one, Jake. Actually, he's an obnoxious bastard, too."

Garrus laughed, his mandibles flexing backwards.

"I have one more question. I tried asking Navigator Pressly, but he said you were responsible for crew assignments."

"Mostly marine detail..."

"Well, he said since I was brought on for the ground team, that I fell under that banner."

I shrugged, it made a sort of sense. But I got the distinct impression that Pressly simply wasn't comfortable with the non-humans aboard the ship. If that was the case, Shepard would correct him if it affected his duties. An officer like him would make his objections noted, as well. While stubborn, he didn't strike me as inordinately bigoted.

"I guess that's true," I said, not wanting to reveal my suspicions to Garrus, and potentially create an awkward situation that could lead to a conflict in the future. Right now, it didn't pose a problem. "We can go over your qualifications later. Until we dock at Arcturus and get the security clearances necessary, I won't be able to let you work on the bridge."

Garrus shrugged. "CIC is a bit too extravagant for me, anyway. I prefer to get my hands dirty. Williams already has the armory under control, otherwise I'd ask to help. However, I noticed that the mako goes largely unattended down there. Do you know what happens when Mako thrusters get junked? Don't even get me started on gun maintenance."

"I don't see any problems letting you maintain the mako."

Garrus' eyes lit up the moment the words escaped my lips, and I realize I'd found the turian equivalent of a car aficionado. I wasn't exactly expecting a C-Sec agent to show such a keen interest in something as straightforward and bland as the mako.

"Fantastic," Garrus smiled. "As soon as I figure out where the turian food is, I'll go run a few diagnostics."

"I can help you with that," I offered. "I have about an hour before I have to report to the bridge."

"It's all right, I don't want to interrupt your breakfast."

"Hey, LT," Williams greeted as she rounded the corner into the mess. She rummaged through the cupboards and pulled out a couple of boxes with orange tape around the sides, labelled "dextro." "What the hell is this shit?"

Garrus' face lit up brighter than a Christmas tree. He relieved the dumbfounded Chief of the boxes, examined the nutritional information before selecting one, and opened the package. "I'm just going to take this to the cargo bay with me. Thanks, Williams."

Williams expression remained plastered on her face until Garrus disappeared. "Same question."

I grinned at her. "He couldn't find the dextro based food, earlier. You did him a favor."

She harrumphed and continued rummaging through the cupboard. "Where the hell is the coffee?"

"Top shelf, Chief."

She opened the indicated door and pulled out the container. "So guess what I saw this morning."

I assessed Williams as she leaned casually against the edge of the counter, the coffee pot working its magic behind her. She seemed like someone who appreciated a good sense of humor, who expected people around her to crack a joke or two. "A brush?"

"Nope. Strike one."

"Wrex's personal armory?"

"Not that I didn't, because I did, but that's not the answer. As a side note, he has more guns than Shepard, and that's saying something. Strike two."

"Give me a hint."

"It involves the Commander. And it's hilarious."

"Sounds like dangerous territory, Chief."

"Oh, it probably is. And I'll probably regret telling you later when I meet the business end of the Commander's boot, but it's worth it. So guess. You've got one more try."

If Williams expected to meet the business end of Shepard's boot, it was something that was likely potentially embarrassing. My trouble was that I'd only known Shepard for just over 8 days. While I knew she was a tech geek and capable of kicking some serious ass, I couldn't for the life of me come up with something that sounded plausible. Pink pajamas? Pink omni-tool? No, I'd seen her use it, and it was definitely orange. Besides, having something pink didn't strike me as something Shepard would be embarrassed about. Maybe I was going about it the wrong way. Perhaps she'd _done_ something funny, and would kick Williams' ass for talking about it. Slipped on a bar of soap in the shower?

I adjusted my collar, feeling slightly warmer, and set my coffee down.

"LT, you're thinking too hard. How about I just give this one to you for free."

"All right."

She squealed, "Shepard wears a onsie"

I stared at the Chief, trying and failing to picture Shepard in fuzzy, footed pajamas. Despite the fact that armor was relatively similar in concept as far as that underlayer was one complete suit, I just couldn't imagine the Commander in something so... adorable.

"That's not even the best part."

I arched an eyebrow and Williams fought off a grin. "Is it covered in little pink hearts?"

"No, that might almost be better!" Williams finally let loose the laugh she'd been trying to contain. "It's an _N7_ onsie! Solid black, red stripe, _everything!_ The only thing it lacks is that sense of badassery one associates with someone who could kick your ass in ten seconds flat. The Commander looked downright _cuddly_. Should have seen the look on her face when I told her that."

"I think I can imagine. Probably really fierce and threatening."

She hooted in laughter. "Hell yeah! If she hadn't been wearing the damned thing, I might have taken her seriously."

The elevator doors hissed open and Williams turned violently around, busying herself making a cup of coffee. Five seconds later, Shepard rounded the corner, took one look at Williams' shaking in silent laughter, and looked at me. I shrugged, and her look became suspiciously dubious.

"Goddamn N7 onsie!" Williams hooted and Shepard crossed her arms. "Like a frakking teddy bear!" she howled in laughter, leaning against the counter for support. "Hey Shepard, I know what I'm getting yo- you for your birthday!"

Shepard arched an eyebrow as Williams retreated into more gales of laughter. "And what is that, Chief?"

She practically howled her answer in between fits of laughter. "Combat boot slippers! With ribbons!"

Shepard let Williams laugh it out, and I noticed she was keeping track of the time on her omni-tool. I decided that I suddenly had more interesting things to do, and opened my own tool, picking up where I left off the night before on an experimental program using new algorithms for breaking through locking mechanisms. I hadn't quite gotten the code to compile yet, but it was more of a project about proof of concept than for actual use. Though eventual implementation in combat situations was not out of the question.

"Do you even know when my birthday is, Williams?"

"Yeah, Commander, sure. Joker told me," she wheezed, finally calming down. "April 4th, 2154."

Shepard furrowed her brow, evidently surprised that Williams had discovered the prized piece of information - and from Joker, no less. That particular part was probably the least surprising. "I don't usually celebrate my birthday."

"LT and I will make it extra special then! It's not everyday someone turns 29."

I jerked my head up. "Excuse me?"

"Takes 3 to make a party, LT. Sorry, but you've been roped in."

I returned to my program, grumbling incoherently about being dragged in to Williams' schemes. She definitely seemed to be a schemer, the type to not back down once she committed herself to something. In fact, I thought I'd heard her mention having younger sisters the other day. She'd probably gotten them into unimaginable amounts of trouble.

Shepard planted herself on the bench next to me. "Chief, pour me a cup of coffee, will you?" Williams obliged and turned around, still chuckling to herself. Shepard leaned in close, and whispered, "What do you say you and I mysteriously disappear on my birthday, provided we're docked? We could have something important to do."

"Hmm," I replied, keeping my voice low so as not to carry. "Plenty of things could go wrong that require immediate attention. Council meeting, Spectre business, the ship could explode."

"Exactly."

Williams turned around and Shepard backed away from me faster than an eye could blink and pretended to be examining the open program on my omni-tool. Actually, considering Shepard was a tech, she probably _was_ looking at the code now that her eyes settled on it.

"Here you go, Commander."

Shepard accepted the cup gratefully. "Karma's a bitch, Chief."

"I'll gladly take the punishment, ma'am. Now if you excuse me, I need to go look through some extranet sites."

After Williams vacated the area, Shepard sighed. "She's really going to buy those, isn't she?"

"It certainly seems like it."

"Frak me." She still hadn't taken her eyes off the code I was working on. "I've never seen this algorithm before. What is it?"

"New algorithm for circumventing the locking mechanism all together, instead of simply bypassing the protocols."

"Doesn't look like anything I've seen," she muttered. "May I?"

"Sure," I said slowly, and Shepard twisted my arm gently, scooting the the last bit of distance between us until her hip bumped against mine so she could maneuver my arm comfortably and take a look at my program. "Impressive," she mumbled as she perused the code, and I couldn't help the swell of pride that flooded my chest. I was damned proud of the program, and it had taken me the better part of a week to analyze various parameters for functionality.

She released my arm but didn't budge. "If that works, I want a copy. If you don't mind."

"Done deal, Commander."

"Do you have time this afternoon to get together for a heart to heart? The ins and outs of biotics? I'd like to train on how to deal with biotics on the field, too. I've never dealt with that kind of firepower, and I want to know what to expect."

"Sure. Light shift only today, so I should be free in 6 hours."

"I'm not interrupting on plans on Arcturus?"

"No plans, was just going to cruise around while we still had time to do so."

"Excellent. See you in 6." With that, she rose from the table, patting me on the shoulder as she left. The touch was like an electric spark dancing across my skin. Huh. I made a mental note to check my headjack to make sure it hadn't been contaminated.


	14. Kaidan vs The Training Session

**Kaidan vs The Training Session**

-K-

Williams planted herself against the gym lockers, casually throwing her uniform jacket onto the nearest bench. "What's on your agenda, LT?"

"Training session with the Commander. After that? Might surf the trading deck for some new omni mods. Heard about a cool new upgrade that..." I trailed off noticing the blank look plastered on Williams' face. "Needless to say, it's really cool."

"Better than Garrus' answer. He's half-afraid to set foot on Arcturus."

"I'm sure if you smile really pretty and ask really nice, he'd go with you."

Williams punched me in the arm. "How long's your session gonna run?"

I grabbed my towel out of the locker and shut it, cinching the straps on my sweats. "About an hour. Just going over the basics of biotic field tactics. Perhaps a few defensive maneuvers."

"Cool," Williams opened her locker and rifled through its contents. "I've got a date with the gym once you two are done. Want to get a solid 30 minutes of boxing in before I meet a friend for drinks. Aren't you going to wear shoes?"

I glanced down at my socked feet. "No. Sparring with the Commander, remember? When in doubt, don't give the CO a black eye. Or a cracked rib."

"Ah, right." Williams grinned and winked at me, grabbing her gym shorts and tank top before heading to the cardio lab. "Solid advice, LT. Thanks for the pep-talk."

"Come on, Lieutenant," Shepard hollered.

She appeared in the doorway wearing slim fitting black pants and a simple black tank top. It took a supreme act of will to look at Shepard's face. No fatigues, no body armor. Just PT clothes that shaped nicely to her curves - an observation I had no business making. She looked... softer, without managing to look any less deadly. I noticed with some satisfaction that she wasn't wearing shoes either. I looked at Williams and raised my eyebrows and she rolled her eyes before disappearing through the door. I followed the Commander into the training room and she planted herself on the middle of the mat, gesturing for me to sit across from her.

"Ok, what do you want to cover first?"

"Well," she tapped a finger against her lips. "First, let's go over how I can order you to do something without waving my arms about wildly and shouting, 'do that blue thing!' I think after a week of trying to be creative about it, I should just learn it."

I chuckled, remembering Shepard standing in the wards awkwardly trying to mimic the pull mnemonic I'd employed in capturing Fist. "Ok, well..." and I dove into the set of tactics taught us during basic. BAaT taught us how to use and control our abilities, but the Alliance honed our skills and trained us to be efficient weapons on the battlefield. The addition of tech-training gave me a defensive bonus, as most of my mnemonics only required one slight gesture so as not to interrupt any hacks I might be doing at the moment. It also allowed me the use of a pistol with one hand while I mopped the floor of baddies with the other.

All in all, the conversation lasted 30 minutes, with Shepard asking questions when she needed clarification or wanted something rephrased. Tactics, strategy, what I could and could not do (for instance, I could not read minds, nor detect the "lifeforce" of nearby sapients, or non-sapients for that matter), and the verbal and nonverbal commands. Verbals commands were typically straightforward. "Throw that guy" or "slam him" or "singularity" were all easy enough to understand. Nonverbal commands were far trickier, something that had to be established between the biotic and the team-lead. It was better if I adapted to how Shepard wanted to give the orders, because her associations would be easier for her to understand rather than being force-fed someone else's.

"I think my head might explode from all that information," Shepard said, head resting on her fists.

"Ready to try some defensive maneuvers in case a crazy biotic rushes you in the field?"

"Do you qualify as a crazy biotic, Lieutenant?"

I stood up and couldn't entirely keep the smirk off my face as I responded. "For the purposes of this training session, sure. I'll keep an evil gleam in my eye or something. Maybe grow a mustache." I wiggled a finger above my upper lip and Shepard laughed.

Shepard stood up and rolled her shoulders. "Ok then."

I swung my arms in wide arcs around me to loosen the muscles, then stretched them above me in careful rhythms. Shepard watched with apparent interest as I continued the exercise routine I'd established early during biotic training. I was suddenly glad that the life of a marine demanded a fit physique, as I'd become very aware of Shepard's eyes on me.

"The most common offensive attack a biotic will use against you if he has a clear shot is warp, but for training purposes, we'll work with throws. The tactic is largely the same for both: avoid."

"Got it."

"You _can_ take a throw, and stand better chances wearing medium or heavy armor, but it'll still daze you. Warp will shred armor to bits, but the fields are highly unstable and don't last very long. If you get caught in one, get out as fast as you can. They can be subject to a biotic detonation."

Shepard slowed her stretches. "That doesn't sound good. Seriously, _detonations?_" I could just imagine Shepard picturing C4 strapped to a biotic field, ready to explode.

I nodded slowly. "It'll only detonate from any attack that directly affects the target, and that's because warp is a field that surrounds the target, wearing barriers and shields down in seconds before going to work on the armor."

"Stay the frak out of a warp field." Shepard bobbed her head back and forth with an expression of _sure, why the frak not?_ plastered on her face. "Simple."

"Pulls are another nasty attack, because the biotic in question has complete control over the field and can release at will."

"So if I get caught hanging over a canyon, I can kiss my ass goodbye."

"Unless I'm there to pull your ass out of the air, pretty much."

"Note to self, keep Alenko on team." She narrowed her eyes. "Especially when canyons are involved."

I laughed and reached out to rotate her away from me. "Have you ever been pulled biotically?"

"Can't say I've had the pleasure, Lieutenant."

I positioned her and pressed her shoulders down, effectively telling her to stay without so many words. "I'm going to move approximately 10 feet back and pull you towards me."

"Sounds fun. I assume I'm not supposed to try and fight back yet?"

"Not yet, no."

Shepard peeked at me over her shoulder as I moved back. "Next training session, I'm giving the orders." She faced forwards once more and amended her previous statement. "If you don't catch me, there's going to be hell to pay, Lieutenant."

"I wouldn't let you fall, Commander," I replied, speaking louder so my voice carried, and reached behind my head to plug my amp into the port. It connected and a slight buzz flashed through my nervous system before my brain adjusted to the flow of power and the white noise faded into the background. "Now relax."

The Commander breathed deeply and I waited for her shoulders to settle before pulling her towards me with a swift motion. She flew into my arms, her back slamming into my chest. I grunted at the impact but kept her from tipping over. I held her by her arms as she regained her footing.

"Well, that was certainly interesting," she breathed.

"First time I did that with Jenkins, I thought he was going to pass out," I laughed, remembering the training session where I'd thrown him and he hit the ground hard, only to pop right back up, shouting, _"That was awesome!"_ I shrugged, shaking the memory out of mind, and Shepard turned around. "Anyway, being thrown feels much the same, except instead of something pulling you, it's something hitting you."

"Everything looked a little blue," Shepard waved her hands in front of her face, as if to dispel the color from her vision. "Shall we do some light sparring?"

"All right. First, we're going to see if you can counter defensive biotics."

Shepard's eyes gleamed wickedly at the use of "if you can."

We circled each other slowly on the mat, matching step for step. Shepard was assessing her approach and I was doing my damnedest to anticipate her move because it wasn't everyday that someone got to train with an N7 marine. Shepard charged with lightning speed and I erected a barrier barely in time to catch her. She bounced into it, but didn't lose her footing, shaking off the experience. I released the field, and she tilted her head to the side as I calmly stood there in front of her. There was a predatory gleam in her eyes, and I had the distinct feeling that everything I was doing was being dissected and analyzed for a weakness.

This time when she came at me and I erected another barrier, she jumped and rolled to the side and landed a soft kick against my leg. I bit back a curse as the foot connected and reached out to grab her ankle before she pulled her leg away and spun her. She used the momentum to push herself off the ground, spin, and land another blow to my side. I blocked the second punch with a barrier and the third with my arm, quickly following that with a rapid succession of punches to her midriff. She exhaled as the first connected and knocked my arms away for the second and third, then pulled back.

I had to remember that I was training with an N7, not some green FNG that required hours of coddling before they could handle being thrown across the room without cracking their heads on their own limbs.

Shepard tackled again. This time I didn't erect a barrier, expecting her to stumble from anticipating something that never came, but she didn't. I blocked her blow with my arm and had my own counter punch blocked in return. She twisted and swung with her left leg towards my knees, and I countered that with another barrier and released it as soon as her leg bounced off.

She stepped back and smirked at me. "If you're worried about pissing off your CO, Lieutenant, let me give you some friendly advice: don't."

So that's how she wanted to play it, eh? I waited for her to charge again, then biotically pulled on her legs, causing her feet to fly out from under her. She twisted in the air and caught herself on her hands and sprang back up in time to meet my swift kick and counter it with one of her own. I took the hit right in the stomach, exhaling sharply as her foot connected.

Shepard backed off, and I gave her a small biotic shove. Instead of faltering, she used the momentum to flip backwards.

I was thoroughly impressed.

Strings of hair had escaped the small pony-tail and framed her face. I rubbed my brow with an arm, clearing the small beads of sweat that had started to accumulate before they could run into my eyes.

Shepard ran at me and I pulled her feet again. She'd expected it, however, because she'd launched herself into a double kick right as I pulled and I realized she'd been looking for the telltale blue flare right before I performed an attack. Her feet connected with my chest and sent me sprawling backwards onto the padded floor. I rolled to my right and pushed myself off the mat and barely managed to duck in time beneath a roundhouse kick directed at my head.

She was using the blue flare to her advantage. And she'd probably started to recognize my mnemonics.

"Is that all you've got, Lieutenant?" She radiated with an unspoken challenge.

All right. She wanted to see something?

I rushed her for a change, tucking my shoulder down to slam into her, which she easily blocked, and which I fully expected her to and used to my advantage. I biotically lifted her in the first half of a slam, grabbed her mid-air, wrenched her arms back beneath her head and threw her to the ground. She struggled against my hold and I straddled her, pulling on her arms biotically and holding them firmly above her head, a small wrist in each hand.

Her face was inches from mine as I stared defiantly at her, an odd expression painted on her face and something else that could only be described as amazement, because I'd done something she _hadn't_ anticipated and that was _incredible_. She was breathing hard, and I could feel the warm air dance across my lips like a summer breeze. Her eyes pierced mine with a bright intensity. I was suddenly very aware of the Commander's body pressed up against me, held down by my weight. The soft skin of her belly was hot against my own where our shirts had ridden up during the process of pinning her to the ground.

My eyes slid to her lips, only inches from my own.

The feeling of her body beneath mine sent my heart pounding, and for one moment, I seriously considered the merits of pressing my lips against the soft, lightly pink ones that were now only an inch away from mine.

"_Action stations! Set condition one! Frak, someone slap this guy, stat!"_

What the hell was I thinking? The Commander's _lips?_ I grunted and returned my gaze to Shepard's eyes, because the answer to my question was that I _hadn't_ been thinking. My hold on her arms had loosened and her eyes were unreadable as she stared back at me, that not-quite-identifiable expression still painted across her face.

Then she grinned.

Before I knew what was happening, I was sailing through the air over her shoulders. Shepard had managed to rip an arm free from my grasp, snake it around my abdomen and fling me upwards. Sly frakking N trained marine. She pinned me to the ground before I had time to react, one arm caught beneath her knee and the other pressed firmly into the ground above my head.

I met her gaze levelly. My eyes danced to her lips once more of their own volition. "You know, Commander, I could simply throw you with my biotics."

Shepard's mouth curled into an almost smile, and she lowered her lips to my ears. I shivered as her breath misted against the sensitive area of my neck. She whispered, "But you won't."

The door to the gym opened, causing a momentary distraction as Shepard raised her head to see who had interrupted our training session.

I used that to my advantage, flared my biotics, and threw Shepard at an angle into the air.

"Holy shit!" Williams exclaimed, and I heard the door slam as she ran out of the room. Shepard scrambled to her feet, disbelief etched on her face that I'd carried through with my threat, again displaying something she hadn't anticipated. The disbelief was quickly replaced with amazement, which darkened into an, _ok, smart guy_ look that took most of my willpower to _not_ take a step back from Shepard. My shirt was torn where she'd grabbed me to throw me over her shoulder. I pulled it off and tossed it aside, and noticed Shepard's eyes slide down my chest before sharply pulling back to my face.

The door opened again and I noticed Williams, Garrus, Wrex and few members of the crew file noisily into the room.

"Shit, you weren't kidding, Chief," one of the marines said. I circled the Commander.

"I should have known Joker was lying when he said Shepard and Alenko had cleared out early."

"_This ship is now accepting bets, starting at 50 credits, favoring Shepard. Any who wish to participate, please refer to my fine associate Miss Williams."_

More crewmen entered, drawn by Joker's announcement, shouting out their bets which Williams recorded on datapad. I yanked biotically on Shepard, pulling her into me as fast as I could, and the crew gasped collectively. I caught her around her middle with the intention to throw her over my shoulder, but before I got her completely over, she twisted and landed a kick against my side, taking me down with her.

I recovered quickly and biotically threw her against the wall while she tried to stand up. She grunted at the impact, but landed on her feet, absorbing the shock with her knees. The padded walls of the gym softened the blow.

The crew hollered, and more voices spilled over the comm. system, mixed with Joker's dramatic narration of the fight. _"Alenko slammed Shepard against the wall, and she looks pissed! This is one hell of a fight, people!"_

Which it was. We'd gone from light sparring and training to a full on _fight_. My competitive streak demanded that I not back down, as Shepard's must certainly be demanding the same thing.

"It's gonna take more than that to get me on the ground, _Alenko_."

"I like a challenge, _Shepard_."

I'd never been more excited than I was now. Adrenaline coursed through my system, every little detail seemed a thousand times more vibrant. Shepard was certainly a formidable foe. The air was charged with anticipation.

"Kick her ass, LT!" Williams shouted.

Shepard started running and I launched a throw, realizing too late that her act had been a feint. She jumped and landed a double kick against my chest. I biotically grabbed her by her feet and pulled her to the ground on top of me as I fell backwards.

"Go, Shepard!"

"You saying you can get me to the ground?" Shepard asked around sharp intakes of breath as she twisted and grabbed a hold of my legs and flipped me onto my stomach.

I grunted, but twisted my head to look at her out of the corner of my eye. "No, Shepard. I'm saying I will."

Shepard blinked and I biotically pushed against the mat, swivelled in the air to catch her by her hips and delivered a quick punch to her stomach before shoving to the ground, knocking the breath out of her. I landed on my feet hard a meter from her position.

"200 credits on Alenko!"

"_Will Alenko fall for another feint like that, and have his ass handed to him? Only credits will tell!"_

"Joker, shut up!" Williams hollered into the comm.

Shepard rolled to her feet in a smoothly executed maneuver and tried another feint, but this time I waited to see where she actually went before acting. I caught her in another pull but released her before she reached me, dropping her to the ground. She landed spryly on her feet and rushed me without pausing. I met her punch for punch, blocking some blows and taking others in favor of landing my own punches. I erected a barrier against a swift kick, and her leg bounced off harmlessly.

I feinted this time. I raised my arm in the mnemonic for a throw, expecting Shepard to react - which she did. She flipped away, and I caught her in another pull field to the collective gasp of the crowd. I captured her wrists, yanking them harshly up behind her back. Shepard surprised me with her flexibility by kicking straight up, her foot connecting with the top of my head. I staggered backwards, but didn't release my hold her on wrists, and shook off the blow.

She pitched herself forward and flipped me over her back. The hold on her wrists meant she came with me, landing on top of me facing the ceiling. She quickly tried to roll over my head, and I released my hold on her wrists and caught her by her bottom.

The crew roared louder.

I flipped her back on top of me, capturing her legs between mine as she struggled against the restraint. She swung her arms outward in a surprising show of strength and started working her way up. I biotically pulled her sharply to my chest - close quarter biotics seemed to be the most effective tactic to keep her restrained - and snaked one hand around her inner thigh to hoist her before quickly executing a twist in conjunction with a biotic pull to keep her positioned. I forced her under me, capturing her wrists just above her head with one hand and pressing her chest down with the other, my arm resting above her neck while my hand pressed firmly against her chest. One of her legs had escaped being pinned, knee bent against my thigh.

The crew shouted variations of, "He did it!" and "Frak me!" and "Pay up!"

I leaned in close. "You're on the ground, Shepard."

Shepard breathed raggedly, her chest pressing up against me. "So I am." She breathed again, eyes locked on mine. "It's been a long time since someone beat me."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"Oh believe me, it was." She grinned wickedly and I found my eyes dancing across her lips once more. What was it about Shepard that made me forget myself? Her breath grazed hot against my skin and my breathing turned ragged. I realized it wasn't entirely because of the exertion of pinning Shepard to the ground, though it was definitely a factor because, N7 or not, Shepard had given me a run for my money. If I hadn't employed biotics against her, and in increasingly creative ways because she adapted _so damned well_, I'd be the one pinned to the ground instead.

Shepard's gaze was electrifying, and I was mesmerized by the woman trapped beneath my grip.

"You win this round, Alenko."

The crew continued whooping, dolling out credits and exchanging high-fives around us. Joker loudly declared that a special, second viewing would be available after dinner in the mess.

I dipped my head close to her ear, and felt her breath hitch at the proximity. "I'll win the next one, too, Shepard."

A slight increase in pressure against my arm indicated that Shepard had raised her head closer to mine. I could feel her lips graze ever so lightly against my skin as she whispered, "We'll see about that."

I closed my eyes and slowly released my hold on her and stood up. The crew whooped again, milling around the gym floor.

I extended a hand to Shepard, which she accepted, and helped her up. I hadn't planned on using as much force as I did and she slammed into my arms. Her eyes were bright as she stood there, half in my arms, one hand steadying her by her elbow. Her hand lingered on my skin just a little too long before she dropped it and pulled out of my grasp. Her hair was a mess, strands having pulled free from the confines of her ponytail during the sparring match, and her skin gleamed with the sweat of an intense workout. It only served to magnify her pale complexion, outlining the contours of her toned muscles.

I needed a cold shower.


	15. Kaidan vs The Armor

**Kaidan vs The Armor**

-K-

"_Will all ground team personnel report to the comm. room for a debriefing,"_ Shepard's voice rang out over the ship.

I shared a look with Garrus and sighed. After a few days searching through the Knossos System in the Artemis Tau cluster, our scans must have finally picked something up worth pursuing. Barla Von had provided a list of Prothean dig sites that Liara had an interest in or had been seen at in the recent past. Unfortunately, he couldn't tell us which one she was at, because the doctor had a tendency to move from one dig site to another seemingly on a whim. Archaeologists never could seem to stay put, and Doctor T'Soni travelled light, barely leaving a footprint.

Garrus sat up from the maintenance cart. "Hate to leave the thrusters like this."

I closed the thruster exhaust valve and slammed the lid shut over the engine, securing the locks. "You've already improved the efficiency by 3.6%. I'd call that good."

"Well, not good enough. It'll take more tinkering to get it to turian standards."

I arched an eyebrow at the turian. "Please don't. I'd hate to see it crash first time we do a mako drop."

"All right," Garrus grinned and picked up the toolbox at his feet. "Just for that, I'll get the gun working better than your Alliance book of standards says is possible."

"If we need it for the mission, then your threats are wasted breath, Vakarian."

I closed the diagnostic I'd be running on the mako's propulsion systems. The mako operated in wide variety of environments because of the small eezo core built into the system, allowing it to function like a proper vehicle on regular-gravity planets should while on a low-gravity worlds. The micro-thrusters worked in conjunction with the eezo core to provide an extra layer stability, though depending on the driver, that stability could be rendered effectively useless. A brand new mako would be something to work with as everything should be tuned to perfection, despite Garrus' tinkering. Or maybe even because of it, because the results from the diagnostic showed an increase in efficiency in the propulsion relay system.

All that tech shoved inside the mako, which was by nature designed to be carried and deployed by frigates, meant that the interior of the vehicle was cramped. Two forward seats for the driver and navigator, a swivel chair in the middle for the gunman and two seats in the back.

My hands were covered in grease from mucking about in the engines. Garrus had his own sooty streaks smudged across his face where he'd practically jammed it into the exhaust vents. I grabbed a towel off the workbench and smeared the grease around before giving up and tossing one to Garrus, with similar results. "Guess we better head up."

"If you don't want to wait, you better get your asses in here now."

I turned around to see Wrex standing in the entrance of the elevator. The krogan radiated an aura of impatience. The ride up was punctuated by periodic grunts from Wrex as he leaned against the back wall, not exactly explicitly stating that he disapproved of sharing an elevator with a turian, but I got the distinct impression that he would have preferred Garrus not be there. Something which Garrus seemed oblivious to as he ticked a talon through his omni-tool, calculated something undoubtedly calibration related.

Most of the ground team were already in the comm. room when we arrived. A top-down view of the dig site dominated the vidscreen at the front of the room. Planet: Therum, Alliance operated base... everything looked pretty standard. I took my seat to the right of Shepard's chair and waited for the rest of the team to arrive while I studied the details of the dig site. Something didn't seem right about it. I activated my omni-tool and interfaced with the screen to zoom the base into sharper focus.

Shepard glanced at me then looked at the screen. "Creepy, right?" she said quietly.

I raised my eyebrows as I examined the data in front of me. The dig site was empty. There was no sign of activity, no radio communications. Granted there wasn't usually a lot of activity at Prothean dig sites, unless something major had been uncovered, but this was downright eerie because there was _no_ activity. It was as if the entire project had been shut down.

"All right, people," Shepard said, adopting her Commander voice, "We don't know if Liara is here, but all other scans and radio contacts have turned up nothing. We are currently in deep orbit above Therum. As you can see, the base is dark."

"Isn't that an Alliance mining facility?" Williams asked, and Shepard nodded.

"Yes it is. The fact that our attempts to communicate have been met with radio silence is disconcerting."

"They're dead," Wrex stated.

"That's not everything," Shepard continued. "We've detected a geth dropship in orbit. They don't have us on their scanners, but the _Normandy's_ stealth systems will only keep us hidden for so long. Which means we need to move, and soon. We're going to do a mako drop. Alenko, Williams and Wrex, you're on the ground team. Garrus, I want you on the bridge with Joker in case that ship decides to make the _Normandy_ target practice."

A round of 'aye, ma'ams' echoed about the room.

"Ok, let's plan this mission," Shepard started, and we set to work analyzing the terrain. Non-ground team personnel were dismissed.

The base would be fortified. There were two gates leading to the compound, both likely occupied by the geth. The compound itself probably housed the brunt of the geth troops, except for the mine itself. The numbers were probably equivalent to at least one platoon. Maybe two. There was only one way into the mine: the shaft in the middle of the compound. The smoking ruins of a second shaft were located about a kilometer away. No gaining entrance there.

"We might be able to get the drop on them if we land a klick out," I stabbed the map at the indicated point. "The mako should be able to cross this ravine without too much trouble."

"That ravine is filled with lava," Wrex pointed out.

"So I won't drive through it," Shepard retorted and Wrex grunted something that might have passed for a laugh. "Joker should be able to get us in. I don't see any AA towers."

Williams said, "The geth start hucking about AA towers, and we're screwed."

"Maybe you are." Williams rolled her eyes at the krogan.

"Yeah, I'd like to see you take one out all by yourself, cowboy."

Wrex eyed the Chief appreciatively until Shepard clapped her hands, bringing everyone's attention back to the matter at hand.

"We'll have to ditch the mako here, doesn't look like it'll get through."

"I bet the geth planned that," I muttered and Shepard nodded. "The mako might not fit, but unless the geth double back on us, it should be relatively safe there."

"Once we secure the compound, I can radio Joker to pick it up," Shepard straightened to face the team. "Ok, people, head to the cargo bay. Joker, take us in, fast and quiet, and get ready for a mako drop. I'm sending you the coordinates now."

"_Aye aye, ma'am. We'll be there in 20."_

"You heard the man, let's move."

Once down in the cargo bay, I walked swiftly over to my locker. The shiny armor case was resting at the bottom, right where the requisitions officer had left it. Brand spanking new armor, about to be tested against a platoon of geth. I stripped off the harness of my BDU and the over-shirt, exposing the white t-shirt beneath. The combat boots and pants were the next to go before I pulled on the soft under-armor mesh that the hard plates attached to.

I felt a finger tap my shoulder and dropped my hands away from the zipper. A small hand planted itself on my waist while the other zipped my mesh underlay up and locked the seal in place, grazing against the base of my implant. I shuddered involuntarily at the contact, not used to others' fingers so close to a sensitive location. I turned around and the hand slid off my side. Shepard stood behind me. Her own mesh underlay was hanging open, exposing the tank top beneath her suit. She reached back with her left hand and lifted her hair clear of her neck. I sucked in a breath, steadying her with one hand around her waist as I zipped her up, making sure to brush the few stands that escaped her hold. A small shiver passed through her as my fingers grazed against the bare skin of her neck, and goosebumps prickled the exposed flesh. There was that spark of electricity again. Surely my backup amp couldn't be on the fritz...

Shepard thanked me for not catching her hair in the zipper and I shrugged it off. I'd been on enough missions with women to know that zipping up a woman's hair was the fast-track to adding you to their shitlist.

I opened the case and pulled out the armor, admiring the design. The hard plating of the Serrice armor was smooth. No nicks from stray bullets or scores from hand-to-hand combat. No scratches from being punched or taking cover.

It didn't seem right.

As soon as my armor was on, I grabbed my gear from my locker, attaching the Carnifex to the holster on my hip alongside a series of grenades and a spare ammo block. I added a basic supply of fabrication materials to the pockets along the side of my leg. Last thing to complete the ensemble was the helmet. The visor lowered, and the HUD loaded as it interfaced with the hardsuit computer and my amp. Aside from the basic readouts I was used to from the Onyx armor, there was an additional display with data about the status of my implant: power flow, temperature, capacity. Nothing wrong with the amp itself. Huh...

I amassed a small field, and saw the readout spike. Nowhere near the maximum potential my implants were capable of handling, and the graph clearly showed that I could run more power through my system. I released the field and noticed Shepard staring at me with a question forming on her lips.

"New readouts." I pointed at my amp and she let out of a soft, "Ah."

"_Approaching the drop zone,"_ Joker's voice echoed over the cargo bay. _"Prepare for cargo bay depressurization cycle."_

"Ground team, get in the mako. Everyone else, clear out!" Shepard barked. "Is that cargo secure?"

The requisitions officer double-checked the straps holding down the crates. "Aye, ma'am."

"Let's move, people!" She strode to the mako and opened the driver side door.

I hopped in through the passenger side and strapped in, activating the consoles for navigation and powering up the systems in conjunction with Shepard. "Thrusters, check; weapons online; board is green, Commander."

"Joker," Shepard activated the mako comm. relay, "We're set on our end. Cargo bay secured."

The engine roared to life and the cargo bay doors opened, the ramp extending below us. Lava plumes shot up in the distance.

"Wrex, you're in my space."

"This cabin is tight, human. Get used to it."

"At least move your foot."

"No."

"Alright, kids," Shepard hollered without taking her eyes off the ramp as she eased us into position. "Don't make me turn the mako around."

Williams grumbled in the back, but provided no further protests against the krogan imposing upon her space at the gun chair. The _Normandy_ swooped down and Shepard drove the mako off the ramp and towards the planet below us.


	16. Kaidan vs The Proximity Mine

**Kaidan vs The Proximity Mine**

-K-

My hardsuit clanged a dissonant warning, informing me that my shields were riding dangerously low at 7%. I slid back into cover, breathing hard and waited for the regenerator to kick in. The problem with the geth, I mused as I waited for my shields to recharge, was that they were too damn clever. And too damned efficient. The entire approach towards the mine shaft had been met with little resistance, solidifying the eerie feeling that shit was about to hit the fan because no way would the geth let us get the drop on them so easily. Not that I was complaining about our chances, or disrespecting the collective skill of the squad because after having watched Shepard snipe an entire five-squad unit of geth in five seconds flat, Wrex bulldoze the biggest frakking geth I'd ever had the displeasure to encounter on the field with a combination of biotics and shotgun rounds, and stare in amazement as Williams delivered a swift burst of assault rifle fire into a rocket trooper after hauling ass over a rock the size of a large truck in heavy armor, I was thoroughly impressed with the damage we could do and had a very healthy respect for the threat we represented.

That soft whispering voice that shit just wasn't right accompanied by the hair-raising on the back of the neck sensation justified its persistent existence as soon as we exited the mako and worked our way up the small canyon in a rhythmic chain where Shepard charged ahead first, drawing initial fire before hitting cover and providing covering fire for me, then Williams, then Wrex, all in one smooth cycle. It impressed the shit out of me. Especially, I noted, since Williams operated efficiently alongside a krogan despite her reservations about aliens. Good to see she didn't let personal beliefs dictate the direction of her gun.

I hollered into the commlink, "The armature is blocking the path into the mine shaft."

My hardsuit clanged a second dissonant warning just as the radar fizzled out, and I sighed. I opened my omni-tool and examined the streams of data screaming past the screen, deciphering the the necessary encryption protocols I needed in order to get at least a partial restore of the mapping technology. A bullet whizzed by my head and I encased myself in a barrier without pausing the decryption process.

Shepard slammed into the crate I was using for cover and crouched down next to me. "How's it coming?"

The ding in our hardsuits was enough answer for both of us to know that I'd broken past the jamming signal and gotten a partial restore. I said it anyway, "Partial restore, ma'am. Can't get anything better without applying a level..."

She was grinning at me. The devil-may-care attitude combined with the spark of wickedness in her eyes said that she was _enjoying_ this, and that I'd just done something awesome, so I deserved that smile, too. Because frak the geth, and frak their jamming signals. The grin melted into a smirk and I grunted. "Should be able to track down rogue tangos* now, ma'am."

"Perfect," she said and charged her sniper rifle. "Williams, on me!"

I raised myself above the crate and provided cover fire Shepard as she blitzed away, Williams hot on her heels. A hopper zipped overhead and I dropped it with a snap of my wrist, sending it hurtling towards the ground in a shimmer of blue. Wrex's shotgun smoked and the hopper lay lifeless before us. I dropped back down and loaded up my omni-tool fabrications unit and it dropped a tech mine into my hand. I lobbed the mine in a wide arc around the crate and leaned out of cover to take aim at the armature just as the mine exploded, crippling its firing system. It's laser site honed in on my position and a ball of blue energy sped through the area just a few feet to my right. That was too close.

I couldn't see Williams or Shepard anywhere, which worried me, but I didn't have time to think about it as the ground suddenly and violently exploded beneath my feet and I slammed hard against the very solid wall of the compound, ears ringing from the impact.

_Get up, Lieutenant!_ I shouted at myself, but I couldn't tell which way was up from down, let alone figure out how to operate my legs. My hand smacked against the wall. Ok, that way wasn't it... A dark shadow loomed over me and my brain tentatively decided that _that_ was up as it examined the dark shadow which was currently extending a large stick. After coming to the realization that, despite tired rationalizations that shadows were typically and firmly in the down direction, the shadow's position was definitely up, I realized it wasn't a shadow, rather it was the krogan. And the stick was in actuality Wrex's arm, and I was supposed to grab hold of it.

"Oof," I grunted as Wrex hauled me to my feet. He smacked me on my back once I'd regained my footing, sending me staggering, but I captured myself against the previously smacked wall. I had now offended it twice. "Thanks, Wrex."

"I won't tell Shepard you tried to kiss the wall."

"And I won't tell her you cared."

Wrex grunted and charged his shotgun. "Rocket trooper took a lucky shot at you. It's dead."

I activated my omni-tool. "Shepard, Alenko," I said through the open commlink, "Most of the geth ground troops have been neutralized. But the armature is still an active bogey."

"_I can see that. If you can maneuver the armature to the shaft, I can get a clear shot at its head."_

I surveilled the field ahead of us once more, determining whether or not I could in fact get the armature away from its relative position of safety and closer to the openness of the shaft.

"What are you doing?"

I quickly loaded a program and modified the parameters to suit my needs. "Jamming their frakking radar for a change."

Wrex chuckled and slid down the side of the building away from me and my omni-tool pinged that the jamming signal was a success. I watched him go before sneaking a quick peek around the crate I was using for cover. The armature stood there, scanning its head back and forth in an attempt to detect us. Good. The jamming signal was operational.

A mighty roar was accompanied by Wrex charging out and pumping a few rounds of his shotgun into the armature. I used the distraction provided by the krogan to amass a massive field and biotically lift the hulking tank. It quivered in the air, mechanical limbs flailing. It started shooting despite the fact that lift prevented it from taking proper aim. Wrex flared blue and shoved geth towards my position. I started pumping it with my pistol while I loaded a nasty overload program via my omni-tool. The tech burst spazzed the armature, and the wild shooting dissipated.

I saw it before I heard it. The head of the beast exploded in a shower of sparks, followed half a second later by the sound of Shepard's sniper rifle echoing through the air like a clap of thunder.

After a few minutes, Shepard and Williams came trotting down the hill. I patrolled the perimeter of the mine shaft while we waited, making sure it was secure from the outside.

No more surprises.

Williams shouted once she was within reach, "LT, next time the Commander wants something crazy done, I'm volunteering you."

"Come on Williams, it wasn't that bad."

"I think you need to have your sense of 'bad' recalibrated, ma'am."

Shepard slipped her rifle back onto the magnetic clip on her back and opened her omni-tool. "That your professional opinion, Williams?"

Williams grinned. "It is, ma'am."

"Marines these days just don't have a sense of adventure, anymore. Alenko, are you broadcasting a jamming signal?"

I'd forgotten about that, through all of the surviving and killing things I'd been doing. "Yes, jamming the geth's radar so they couldn't get a bead on our positions quite as easily. Still fast, since they're geth." I deactivated the signal as I spoke. It wasn't necessary anymore, and all it would do now was warn the geth of our presence if they had programs set up to monitor incoming signals. I wasn't exactly inclined to give them such an advantage.

Shepard deactivated her omni-tool. "Now see, Williams. _That's_ adventurous."

"Entrance to the mine shaft looks clear, Commander," I said as deactivated my own tool. "Didn't find anything out of the usual."

"Now that's just downright impolite. As if they expected us to fail." Shepard started walking towards the ramp leading to the shaft, and the rest of us followed. The entrance was locked.

Shepard and I activated our omni-tools at the same time, scanning the mechanism. "I stand corrected," she muttered. "_This_ is impolite."

"Non-standard locking algorithm. Probably invented by the geth," I agreed. "Maybe they did expect us to get this far."

"Nah, probably just covering their asses."

"Hmm.." I replied noncommittally while I loaded the prototype program I'd been working on for the past few months. It was a longshot, because I'd never field-tested it. I wasn't even sure if it was ready... but the programs we had would take at least an hour to override the mechanism. And that was probably time we couldn't afford to waste playing doormats. Might as well set our guns on the ground, stomp really loud and shout, "Here we are!" while the geth shot us down.

Shepard shut her tool down once she saw what I was doing and leaned in interestedly. "Here goes nothing," I said and activated the decryption subroutine. Data scrolled down my screen as the algorithm went to work on the mechanism and I held my breath.

The light flickered and turned green, indicating success.

"You smart sonofabitch," Shepard said appreciatively, a smirk on her face. "I definitely want a copy of that now."

"I still have to refine the interface, make it more user friendly, so you're not typing lines of code on the field specific to each door, and -"

"I don't need it to be pretty," Shepard smiled at me, forestalling my overly technical explanation.

"Alright, give me access to your omni."

"Can't hack into it?"

"Hacking the CO's omni-tool is listed under things to not do, Commander."

Shepard smirked at me, but opened her omni-tool. A few seconds later, mine pinged signifying she'd opened a port for me to link through. I transferred a copy of the program to her and gave her a brief list of the more important commands. She nodded and made a few notes before shutting it down, and we became aware of the conversation behind us.

"... call 'em geeks, Wrex. Means they like tech, code, and sci-fi."

"As they long as they also like to shoot things, they can be as geeky as they want."

Shepard and I swivelled to look at Wrex and said, "I like to shoot things."

Wrex simply nodded, accepting our statement of satisfaction at shooting things, particularly geth because the artificial intelligences were exceptionally powerful, intelligent and brutally efficient, while Williams' looked first at Shepard, then at me, then back at Shepard, her expression a mixture of disbelief peppered with a hint of 'why am I not surprised?'.

"Two peas in a pod," she muttered.

I opened the door to the mine shaft, and the cool air swept out, swirling with the lava-heated air of Therum. Shepard eased into the mineshaft first, and I followed directly behind her. The passage was dark and cramped. Perfect place for the geth to set up an ambush.

"External lighting has been deactivated," Shepard said quietly. Her omni-tool was the only source of light. "No nearby power sources."

"Probably shouldn't hack into the grid, anyway," I whispered back, feeling the uncanny hunch that if I spoke any louder, the geth would be able to detect our presence and our cover would be blown.

Shepard held up a fist halfway down the narrow ramp. "Hold up."

We halted and Shepard swept her omni-tool before her, muttering to herself. The words carried through the comm. system in our helmets, and must have amused Wrex because he chuckled at the string of profanity escaping the Commander's lips. Whatever she found pissed her off. "Alenko, move up. The rest of you, sit tight."

Williams and Wrex backed up and hunkered down at the entrance, guarding our six, and I walked towards Shepard. She held out a hand preventing me from going any further as soon as I reached her shoulder, and rotated her omni so I could see what the holdup was. A series of proximity mines lined both sides of the narrow ramp, at even intervals. In order to get close enough to deactivate the trigger mechanism on one, Shepard would have to place herself in the radius of the other. Boom. Unless two tech specialists worked in conjunction with each other, coordinating their movements precisely, because anything less than precision would cause heads to blow up and limbs to be torn asunder in a blaze of shrapnel and whatever else resided in the payload.

Without saying a word, I loaded the necessary programs up on my omni-tool. Standard proximity triggers had a window of 5 seconds, to ensure maximum exposure, so assume the geth had tampered with the mines because, for such a narrow corridor, anything greater than 3 seconds was too long. The target would have passed the mine within that timeframe and the payload would be delivered to the back of the intended target, not the front. Luck shots might penetrate into the kidneys or knick an artery, but better to try and deliver the payload to the entire body, and not just part, for maximum effectiveness. The signal on the devices was exceptionally weak, to prevent deactivation from a distance and to prevent detection on combat scanners.

The first two sets were deactivated without a hitch.

Something caught my attention below us as we slowly approached the third and final set and I reacted without thinking, flaring a barrier into existence, completely encasing Shepard and myself within its protection while simultaneously yanking Shepard by her arm as I stumbled backwards away from the as-of-yet-to-explode device. Shepard yelped as she staggered into me and then was unceremoniously shoved behind me so I could focus my attention on maintaining the barriers strength.

It exploded and shrapnel bounced harmlessly away from us.

After a few moments, I let the barrier die away and caught my breath. That was close. Too close. Shepard had come within seconds of becoming a pile of meat, and the thought made my stomach lurch and my heart pound. I wasn't normally one for squeamishness at the thought of dead marines, so the fact that I was feeling squeamish about it was cause for concern. But it was a concern I filed away under 'to be analyzed later' when my life was no longer on the line.

"Thanks for pulling my ass out of the fire," Shepard breathed as she examined the crater in the grated floor 2 feet away from us. The fireball had been impressive, even for the geth.

"Just doing my duty, ma'am." I released my grip on her arm, realizing I still hadn't let go of her.

"If this is how you are when you're just doing your job, I can't wait to see what you define as 'above and beyond the call of duty,' Alenko."

The little heart clinch that had crushed my chest as soon as I noticed the mine inches beneath Shepard's boot melted away as Shepard looked at me with a mixture of amazement and gratefulness, with the barest hint of that odd look she'd given me while we were training together and I'd done something she hadn't anticipated. I filed that under 'to be analyzed later' as well.

"I'm sure I'll say the exact same thing if that ever happens, Commander."

She smirked at me. "I'm sure you will."

I was about to respond, but was interrupted by Wrex. "If we're going to be fighting the geth a lot, I might have to pick up some tech skills so I can get it in on the action, too."

"Just a mine, nothing to get excited over, Wrex. We can bet the geth heard that explosion and know we're here, which means our cover is blown. When they come to investigate, they're going to know we survived," Shepard leaped across the hole in the platform, bits of smoking metal sticking up at odd angles where the heat from the explosion had warped the metal. "Let's move!"

Despite the renewed urgency to press forward, we proceeded cautiously. I was beginning to doubt that we'd find Liara alive at this point. Though since the geth were still here, she must be putting up some kind of resistance. Or she was in so deep that they simply hadn't found her yet. I preferred to believe it was the first because if it was the second, the geth stood a better chance of taking her alive and unaware. Which would turn this into a hostage situation, where the enemy wasn't interested in negotiating. Our only hope would be that they wanted her alive, presumably for the same purpose that we did: her expertise on the Protheans.

"Wrex," Williams whispered behind me, and the krogan grunted in response. "Is that a tank or a shotgun you're carrying?"

Instead of answering, the krogan laughed, the deep rumble carrying through our hardsuit communications systems.

The mine shaft entrance opened out onto a series of catwalks, twisting around the edges of the excavation towards an elevator mounted onto the side of the rockwall. Next to the elevator was a blue tiled room. Shepard pulled herself up over the lip to investigate while I got the elevator controls working. Completely open compartment, which meant we'd be easy pickings for the geth. Fortunately, the grid system indicated that there were a series of mounted elevators along the catwalks below, along with service ladders.

"Nothing on the other side," Shepard said, hopping down next to me. "Just a big hole."

"Reminds me of a bathroom," Williams remarked, running a hand across the surface.

I examined the tiled room, noting the stark design. "More like a prison."

Wrex grunted in agreement.

"This elevator ends 5 levels down," I said, pulling open the gated door.

"Couldn't be simple, could it?" Shepard asked rhetorically, and Williams chuckled as she followed Shepard into the elevator. Shepard unholstered her sniper and took up position in the corner where she'd have a good view of the catwalks below us. I shut the gate after Wrex was in and pushed the button to carry us into the depths below.

*tangos: military jargon for targets.


	17. Kaidan vs The Mining Laser

**A/N: **Hey everyone! I have an announcement for all of you! For the past month or so, I've been working on a collaborative project with iNf3ctioNZ, Kassandra Black, and TheRev28 codenamed 'Task Force Hydra'. It follows the shenanigans of four special forces operatives, loosely based on the multiplayer (which you can bet we've played many hours together for 'research'). The story is posted on iNf3tioNZ's profile, and I hope you guys check it out! The character I'm writing for that story is Valeria Viridi, an asari sentinel and expert huntress. I've also spent a lot of time the past week working on art for that story (I know, I should really invest some of that time working on art for this story... I mean, a scene depicting events from chapter 14 would be terrific, no?), so if you want to check that out, I'm quantumparadigm . deviantart . com (remove spaces, blah blah ffnet).

Enough with the plugging, and on with the story!

**Kaidan vs The Mining Laser**

-K-

Archaeologists could stand to learn a thing or two from the military. For one thing, the design of the mine shaft was beyond terrible. Flimsy materials, likely used because they were cheap and expendable, constituted the makeup of most of the catwalks. The walkways themselves were not sturdy and zigzagged in seemingly meaningless directions, instead of sticking to a regimented layout against the walls of the cavern. More than once, I'd heard the telltale creak of metal shifting beneath moving feet and briefly wondered if we were about to plummet to an untimely demise.

It wouldn't look good on the mission report if our cause of death was listed as 'fell over 100 meters into the pit of the dig site, bodies irretrievable' instead of 'blown up by rocket troopers.' At least the second option had us fighting the enemy instead of falling victim to poor architecture.

"Something seems fishy about it, Commander," Williams stated for the third time, and I could see the annoyed glimmer in the corner of Shepard's eye as Williams began reiterating her belief that the asari was hiding something.

"Chief Williams," I said in the best Staff Lieutenant voice I could muster, "The Commander has stated her position on the situation. Must she state it again?"

Williams blanched behind her visor at being verbally reprimanded in the field. "Aye, sir."

I nodded firmly before turning back to the matter at hand. How to get the mining laser operating without blasting a hole so large that the entire catwalk support system came crashing down on our heads. Frankly, I was surprised the dig team hadn't managed to do that themselves. The bigger problem was that none of us had the access code, and Liara didn't seem to know what it was either, much to her dismay. The tired asari still hung suspended in the Prothean field a level above us, protected by a barrier that couldn't be breached by standard firearms - and anything powerful enough to breach it would likely kill the occupant - strengthening my previous suspicion that these were prison cells of some sort. Luxurious by some standards. Bare by others.

_"I was not a part of the digging operation, Commander. You must understand that I was brought in to examine the ruins, not excavate them. I am sorry I cannot be of more assistance."_

"Try it now," Shepard murmured from below me, futzing with the power relays at the base of the console.

I activated the console once again, but was met with a few angry beeps. "Nothing."

"Damnit," Shepard unleashed another volley of curses. "Ok, one more thing I want to try..."

I deactivated the panel so it wasn't live and patiently waited for the Commander to finish. The only person who might want her to get it done faster was currently suspended in air, most likely beginning to suffer the effects of dehydration. She looked pale, for an asari. A slightly lighter, less appealing shade of blue than the warm flush I'd come to associate with healthy asari. Her lips and cheeks had also been slightly chapped, probably as a result of prolonged exposure to the harsh air of Therum.

"...just had to leave them aboard ship, didn't I? Couldn't take the damned things with me... ok, how about now?"

I activated the panel once more, and this time, got a signal. "We are live."

Shepard stood up and dusted off her legs where she'd wiggled around in the dirt. "About frakking time, I thought for sure -"

Shepard's words were interrupted as the Chief barreled into the both of us, knocking us to the ground, right before a sniper rifle shot sounded and echoed throughout the chamber. I landed right on top of Shepard and she grunted as the weight of two marines in complete combat armor crushed into her. Our helmets clashed together, and I thanked whatever military genius had decided that helmets were standard operating procedure because if we hadn't been wearing them, Shepard and I would have broken our noses on each others' faces.

"You alright?" I asked her as Williams scrambled off me and slung her rifle off her shoulder.

"Yeah... you?"

"Don't much like being a marine sandwich," I replied and I pushed myself to my feet. I held out a hand to Shepard and hauled her up next to me.

"I don't really fancy being the bottom slice of bread, either," she answered. I crouched down next to the console, listening to the sounds of Wrex and Williams raining bullets into the geth ambush that had nearly blown mine and Shepard's heads off in an excellent display of sniping. Williams' timely intervention had blown their cover. Shepard had just settled down next to me and was in the process of unholstering her rifle when the gunfire died down and Wrex and Williams reappeared around the corner.

"Just a small strike team, Commander," Williams reported. "Only two other flashlight heads protecting the sniper."

"Hardly worth the trouble." Williams and Wrex shared a smirk, damned proud of themselves. "Let the geeks do their thing."

I stood back up and reactivated the panel. Now, we just needed to know the security code. Nothing I couldn't decrypt with a little brute-forcing. The options were limited to 4 characters, which made it an exceptionally simple hack. I could have done it in my sleep.

"You should have control now, Commander," I said once the hack completed.

"Question is, where do we blast the damn thing?"

"Right below Liara's cell," Wrex answered her, pointing. "That elevator is already busted, so destroying the scaffolding there doesn't matter."

"He has a point, Commander," Williams said. "We could probably climb up to Liara without much hassle. And there are service ladders to the next elevator landing."

Shepard programmed the computer and aimed the laser. After a careful moment of analyzing, she punched a few more buttons, nodded to herself, and activated the laser. A red hot beam shot out and punched through rock, and a cloud of dust and debris that had managed to escape vaporization engulfed the cavern. The beam lasted precisely 2 seconds before cutting out.

The ground shook beneath us and I threw out my arms to steady myself against the tremor. Unbidden images of lava roiling to the surface just beneath our feet made me that much eager to get away from this planet and be done with the facility.

Unfortunately, the path up took us down through the large hole cut by the mining laser.

As suspected, more of the Prothean style prison cells were stacked beneath the one currently occupied by Liara. The Protheans seemed to have preferred strictly vertical architecture. At least, as far as my limited experience with Prothean ruins informed me. Considering the sample size was one, my data might be a little skewed.

Walking through the sterile, unlit chamber was creepy. Our footsteps echoed against the tiled walls as we crossed the room. The small cell opened up onto a large vertical shaft with a large pillar extending upwards from the center. An odd looking console stood near the center of the platform.

"I'm getting a power signature from it," Shepard said as she scanned it with her omni-tool. "Alenko, Williams, look around for a way up. I'm going to check this out."

"Aye, aye," I replied in unison with Williams. We fanned out on opposite sides of the platform around the pillar.

After completing a circuit around the chamber, I peered upwards at the cell currently occupied by Liara. As suspected, the barrier curtain was only active on her side and not this one. The cell was approximately 20 feet above... within range of a biotic lift. I looked back at the console. Shepard was still fiddling with it and I walked over to her.

"Commander," she paused in her assessment of the terminal and raised her eyes to meet mine. "I could lift someone to the platform above. Perhaps the console in that chamber can activate this one."

Shepard glanced over her shoulder to look at the cell above us. "Can Wrex lift you? Because then we could coordinate between terminals. At the very least, you could get the doctor free while I work on this thing." She stomped her boot on the floor. "Pretty sure this is an elevator."

I eyed the pillar at the center of the platform. There were grooves carved into the metal structure, indicating that Shepard was probably right in her assessment of the platform.

"Sure," I answered, not exactly sure if I was comfortable with the notion of Wrex lifting me anywhere. "And if you can't get it working, I can at least lift everyone up after me. Provided we can deactivate the barrier, we'd be home free."

Shepard eyed me before returning her gaze back to the console. "I'll get it working, Lieutenant."

I tapped the console with my fist and walked over to Wrex, with a little trepidation. He was standing near the entrance to the cell we'd blasted through, ostensibly on the lookout for more geth. "Hey, Wrex."

He turned ever so slightly. "Alenko."

"Can you lift me up to the cell?"

"Do you want me to throw you with my bare hands?" he cackled.

"Only if you're trying to show off for Williams," I retorted, taking a leaf from Shepard's books on how to deal with the krogan. He responded well to her witticisms. At least, 'well' as defined by the krogan standards, which meant he was less likely to kill her than he was others. He'd probably save her for last and let her choose the fighting ground should he ever go on a killing spree. Something Shepard would probably actually enjoy, now that I thought about it.

"Hmmph," he grunted. "Hold still."

A blue corona wreathed the krogan and he slowly waved his hands up, capturing me in a biotic lift. However, instead of lifting me straight up, I quickly realized, much to my dismay and, rather unfortunately, Williams' amusement, that I was slowly spinning around the pillar. I crossed my arms and stared down at Wrex beneath me. The krogan simply chuckled.

"I think you missed, Wrex," I stated flatly, and the krogan chuckled again, louder this time.

My sentence captured Shepard's attention and she peered up from her work on the console, leaving the circuit panel exposed to the dry air. Instead of coming to my assistance by ordering Wrex to put me down, Shepard raised her omni and captured a holo.

"Yeah, that's real great, Shepard," I said, pointedly looking at her, arms still crossed.

Williams grinned, "Commander, you should frame that, hang it in the mess."

"Hmm..." Shepard inspected the small display. "Alenko, could you scowl a bit more?"

"I will not scowl more, Shepard." I looked at Wrex. "Now put me down."

"Alright, alright," Shepard turned to Wrex, "Set him down."

As soon as my feet touched the floor of the cell, I crossed over to examine the Doctor suspended in the air. From behind, Liara looked much as Shepard had when the beacon held her in its grasp, doing... whatever it had done that had resulted in it transmitting a massive amount of data before blowing up while maintaining a stronghold on Shepard. It couldn't be a coincidence that another piece of Prothean technology was essentially functioning in the same manner - suspending an organic in the air as if they were a stuffed animal hanging from a claw machine. Liara attempted to twist in the bubble to no avail.

"How... how did you get in here? I didn't think there was any way past the barrier." She sounded tired, her voice raspy with dehydration. I moved to stand in front of her so she didn't have to strain to look at me. She smiled wanly in gratitude, eyes half-lidded. I certainly hoped that what she'd said about a krogan battlemaster wandering the ruins wasn't true because she didn't look up to a firefight.

"We blasted through with the mining laser," I replied. I scanned her with my omni-tool as her eyes dipped closed. Dehydrated, but not severely. She wouldn't have lasted much longer, and the rate of dehydration suggested she'd been stuck here for nearly 3 days. Saren hadn't wasted time after Eden Prime hadn't resulted in his favor, tracking the asari down presumably before we could learn that she was related to Benezia. Liara was also showing symptoms of starvation, not that surprising considering she was also dehydrated. It explained her fatigue and generally apathetic responses to our questions earlier. Nothing else showed up on my scanners that required immediate medical attention, so I shut it down and saved the reports for Doctor Chakwas.

"Right, yes... the laser. That would make sense." She shook her head. "The console should deactivate this field. I... do not know which button activated the security system, but I did not notice any programs designed to hinder functionality."

"Either way, we'll get you down."

A loud grinding noise sounded outside the cell, proving Shepard's theory correct that the platform was an elevator of sorts. Considering how large the lift was, it had probably been used to transport large equipment. These cells were too narrow for it to have been used by the mining team stationed here to transport the laser and the console had been running in a facsimile of standby mode, which meant that Shepard was probably the first to activate it in 50,000 years.

"Not to demean your efforts," Liara said behind me as I activated the console and searched through the systems to find a way to deactivate the field around her, no mean feat considering that the symbols were Prothean, "but why are you here?"

Shepard answered for me, moving to stand in front of the asari. "Your mother is working with Saren."

"My mother? I do not understand."

"Do you know why?"

"I have not spoken to Benezia in years, I don't know why she would have joined him," Liara's voice grew more heated. "Which means you must be here for the same reason that he is."

Shepard forestalled her from continuing. "Partially. We didn't know that he'd come after you. We guessed it was a possibility. What we really need is an expert on Prothean technology. Regardless of your association with Benezia, my sources say your expertise is extraordinary."

"I have spent the last 50 years studying the Protheans. They are my life's-oof!" She dropped out of the field and stumbled into Shepard's arms. I guess that button was the one I needed. "Thank you."

"That elevator should take us back up."

"You got the elevator working?" Liara stood back, flabbergasted. "Our scientists could not get it online, despite my knowledge of some basic Prothean symbols."

"You ever heard of hotwiring a car?" Liara shook her head. "Well, it was a lot like that. Come on, the elevator may be working now, but that doesn't mean it'll stay that way."

Shepard's words were punctuated by an earthquake and we stumbled around the cell, trying to maintain our footing as the tremor passed.

"These ruins are not stable," Liara said by way of explanation.

"We hadn't noticed," Wrex replied sardonically and Williams chuckled.

Liara continued as if Wrex hadn't spoken, following Shepard to the elevator. "The mining laser must have triggered a seismic event."

Well, that was certainly terrific. Shepard dropped down next to the console she'd ripped to pieces and pressed and reorganized the exposed wires. The elevator roared to life and started the long ascent to the surface. Something which, as another tremor rocked through the mine, couldn't happen soon enough, lest the lava shoot up through the bottom of the elevator floor, burning us all to crisps.

I didn't exactly fancy being set on fire.

"Why would the geth come after me?" Liara stared at the floor, looking more and more like a kicked puppy. "Is Benezia really involved?" She managed to widen her eyes in childlike innocence that actually broke my heart. I could see that it had the same effect on Shepard as she stepped closer to the asari.

"Saren's looking for something called the Conduit. We can talk more about it aboard the ship, after you've been seen to," Shepard said as tenderly as possible, causing Williams to do a double take at the tone of voice.

Another tremor, this one more violent, rocked through the ruins and some dust and pebbles cascaded around us from above. I cleared the debris from my visor and scanned the area above us, suddenly leery of boulders falling onto our heads just as much as I was of lava shooting out of the floor beneath us.

I hated Therum.

-K-

**A/N: Next chapter wraps up Therum! Honestly, I'm surprised out how many chapters Therum is turning out to be, since it's my least favorite mission in the game. Especially once I found out that Caleston was supposed to be the original location for finding Liara, complete with a full-blown mining facility. Anyway, next up we have the end of the mission with many bullets and explosions!**

**Also, I didn't mention it earlier, which makes me a terrible friend, but the character Kassy in this story is actually written by Kassandra Black! And I'd like to thank her for being awesome and letting me write her into my story. Love you, Kass!**

**And finally, thanks for reading! I appreciate all the feedback :) you guys are awesome!**


	18. Kaidan vs The Sniper Rifle

**Kaidan vs The Sniper Rifle**

-K-

Krogan battlemasters are some of the most fiercest and toughest warriors in the galaxy. I'd never actually encountered one in a combat situation, and Wrex was the only krogan I'd ever met personally who could boast of the deadly skill set endowed by the title, but now I could certainly say without reservation that I had encountered not one, but two krogan battlemasters, and it left an unpleasant feeling in my stomach. The giant, hulking tank of a krogan lumbered towards us, surrounded by what looked like, for all intents and purposes, an honor guard of geth. Huh. Despite my incredibly limited experience with krogan battlemasters, I hadn't seen that coming.

"Surrender," he demanded as he jumped down onto the elevator platform. Puffs of dust shot up around his feet. "Or don't. That would be more fun."

A few of the geth hung back in the confines of the tiled cell, most likely to protect the sniper standing further aft of them, judging from the long, black gun cradled near its arms. It would most likely use the edge of the wall for cover while it picked its shots, and the troopers around it would provide covering fire every time it took aim, knowing in the way only a networked intelligence could exactly when it did. Shepard's hand hovered at her thigh, ready at a moments notice to swing her rifle around and roll for cover, but she kept her posture purposefully relaxed as she faced the krogan. "There a reason you're in my way?"

"Same reason you're here. The asari. Hand her over."

Shepard edged in front of me, seemingly only shifting her weight, and waved her pinky at Liara before nudging me ever so slightly with the back of her boot. When the shit hit the proverbial fan, my job was to protect the doctor from being taken or worse, killed. "She'll stay with us, thanks."

I nudged the back of her leg with the tip of my boot. Message received and understood. "Wrong answer. Kill them. Save the asari if you can. If you can't, doesn't matter."

Shepard dropped a tech mine out of her omni-tool. "Your mistake," she said and flung the mine right into the center of the group of geth, causing them to scatter. I used the momentary distraction to grab Liara by her arm and shove her behind me while I activated a barrier field around both of us to protect her. With all of my biotic energy focused into maintaining the barrier, I wouldn't be able to provide biotic assistance without exposing the Doctor to the geth.

A sniper shot deflected off the barrier and I raised my sidearm. My shields were still at 100%, I could easily move the field to protect only the Doctor if necessary. Wrex had immediately charged the krogan battlemaster and they were currently locked in a melee fight that sent shockwaves through the floor each time one of them slammed into the other. Shepard had whipped out her sniper rifle and lowered herself to her knee near the pillar while Williams stood on the other side, slightly upwards of Shepard's position, providing covering fire while Shepard picked her target. The sniper leaned out from the edge of the wall again and took aim at me, probably hoping (could geth hope? Probably something more along the lines of acceptable probabilities of penetrating my barrier and shields, technically feasible with the right modifications, and, knowing how adaptive the geth were, it wasn't entirely outside the realm of possibility that the sniper had in fact made the necessary modifications to his gun in order to penetrate my barrier and at the very least do some major damage to my person) to take me out of the game in order to capture the Doctor. I took a step backwards and increased the power output through my amp, hoping the geth had not done their research on L2 biotics, considering it statistically unlikely that a human in the military would have the older implants since most human biotics now sported the L3's, and even some L2's had opted for retrofitting.

Fortunately for me, Shepard chose that exact moment to exact a perfectly executed headshot because the sniper's flashlight head exploded in a shower of sparks, amplified by the ammo modification Shepard had adjusted onto her rifle, which is probably what took her so long to get the shot off in the first place. The fact that I considered a window of 6 seconds 'so long' spoke volumes. I certainly hoped to never be on the business end of her gun, because the barrel was likely to be the last thing I'd see before being unceremoniously deleted from existence.

Actually, I probably wouldn't even see the hit coming.

"To the side," Liara whispered behind me and I redirected my attention to a group of geth who'd circled around the generators bolted around the edges of the elevator, attempting to flank us. I redirected the position of the barrier to behind me, quickly executed an overload and squeezed the trigger of my Carnifex. The first geth was taken out by the overload, a second under my hail of bullets and the last 2 were nailed by well-placed assault rifle fire from Williams. The Chief shouted the all clear and I repositioned my barrier once more.

The krogan battlemaster flew across the elevator platform in a massive throw from Wrex. He smacked against the side of the walls and debris littered the ground around him, raining down from the ceiling. His head cracked against the floor, and Wrex charged him immediately, without waiting for him to rise, brushing against the edge of the barrier protecting Liara (and by extension myself) from the firefight.

More geth poured in through the prison cell.

"Commander, behind you!" Williams shouted - but her warning came too late. A geth hopper pounced Shepard, knocking her rifle out of her arms. Williams rushed the geth crushing Shepard beneath its metallic frame and I grabbed the rifle in a biotic pull. If Williams couldn't get the geth off in time...

"I do not require your barrier to remain safe," Liara said. She was crouching on the ground behind me. "If you need to help your squad..."

Williams kicked the geth off Shepard and it spun mid-air and landed facing her. "I have my orders, Doctor."

Shepard pulled her pistol off her hip and squeezed the trigger, but the geth hopped away before her shots could deal major damage. She cursed and wheeled around. "I don't recall the Commander giving you that order."

Shepard was distracted as the troopers blocking the cell opened fire, forcing her to duck behind the pillar. "She didn't have to say it out loud for me to understand."

Williams cried out in pain at that moment and staggered to the ground. Blood pooled on the ground around her, but she pushed off the ground with one hand and pulled the crap pistol from her side with the other and took out the hopper before it finished her off.

I still had Shepard's rifle, but she was standing on the other side of the pillar, too far for me to get her attention. Shouting at her would only get her killed. I glanced at the sniper in my hands. I'd only used one during basic, and only the one time during a general weapons intro class. The basics of sniper use danced into my brain: track just ahead of the target, gauge the wind conditions (none inside the tunnel), and determine the distance to the target to anticipate bullet drop (practically zero at this range). I raised the scope up to my eye, adjusting the position of the biotic field so I could get shoot the damned thing and aimed at the nearest trooper advancing on Shepard's position.

The kickback was stronger than I'd expected, but my shot landed squarely in the torso and the geth fell to the ground. Frakking hell! I might have to readjust my weapons training to include heavier weapons because this thing kicked some serious ass. No doubt a result of Shepard's care and extensive weapon modifications she'd undoubtedly applied to it, but the sheer power I felt running through my fingertips was almost like a drug. I cocked the reload mechanism and aimed at the next geth. Its head exploded in a shower of sparks from an overload before I got the shot off, so I readjusted and blew its companion away.

It was settled. This gun was amazing, and I wanted to learn how to use it.

Silence settled around us as I shot the third and final geth. I removed my eye from the scope but didn't deactivate the barrier protecting the Doctor. "Hostiles neutralized," Shepard hollered and I lowered her rifle. I deactivated the barrier and ran to Williams who was leaning against a generator, clutching her right side just below her breast.

"I'm fine, LT," she grunted as I removed her hand to examine the wound. "Just a scrape."

"Scrape my ass," I replied. Her suits medi-gel systems had kicked in, sealing the wound from the air and preventing further blood loss, but the plating on her armor had been shattered. Some of it was embedded in her skin. The longer it remained, the more likely it was she would get an infection from the metals in the plating, and the harder it would be to remove them.

"Just give me something for the pain, and I'll be able to make it on my own."

I frowned at her, but administered a mild analgesic through the exposed portion of her neck nonetheless. Then I stood up and handed Shepard her rifle. "Help me get her on her feet."

Shepard nodded and slung the rifle onto the magnetic strip on her back as she stooped to help me pull Williams up, one arm wrapped around each of our shoulders. Wrex stood guard in the prison cell, watching over the catwalks. Probably searching for more geth.

A massive tremor rolled through the chamber and rocks clattered around us, raining down from the ceiling. I spared a glance upwards and noticed the uneven cavern ceiling. At this range, we weren't very far from the surface, meaning referring to the shell above as a ceiling was most likely a temporary arrangement, because it would quickly become a _window_ if the tremors persisted. Judging by the increased frequency, duration, and strength, that seemed an implausible outcome.

"Move!" Shepard shouted and we increased our pace to the tiled cell. Shepard hopped up ahead and I boosted Williams up before climbing up myself.

"This place is ready to blow!" Wrex shouted.

"Then get your ass moving!" Shepard shouted back, supporting Williams' weight with an arm around her waist.

That's when I noticed Liara wasn't with us. I turned back just as another tremor hit us, throwing me off my feet. I heard Shepard and Williams stagger and hit the railing hard, followed by a grating noise as the elevator shaft buckled and the platform we'd just been standing on broke free from its support structure.

Liara was still on it.

A flash of fear brightened her eyes as they met mine just before she disappeared beneath the edge of the floor. I pushed myself back to my feet and clambered to the edge. The platform was scraping against the edges of the cavern wall, the pillar buckling beneath it as it collapsed. I captured the Doctor in a lift-pull, silently thankful that the pillar had the decency to buckle on itself instead of simply fracturing into a thousand pieces. Liara flew into my arms at full speed, knocking the wind out of me as she impacted. We crashed to the ground in a heap and the ceiling of the prison cell started to collapse around us as the tremor suddenly and violently increased. One of the tiles landed on top of the asari and she cried out in pain.

I struggled back to my feet and grabbed her about her waist, surprised out how light she was (though a part of my brain registered the fact that an increased amount of adrenaline had flooded my system, likely preventing me from being fully aware to the extent I was exerting myself). I didn't have time to see if she could run by herself, so I threw her over my shoulder and raced up the catwalks, noting Shepard and Williams in the distance, crossing the ramp above us. I made eye contact with the Commander shortly before disappearing beneath the ramp crossover.

The door to the shaft was just ahead, I just had to keep running. The tremors were constant now, slowing me down, but I kept pushing ahead. Closer to the open door, the silhouettes of the others framed with the confines of the shaft. Not a moment too soon, I glimpsed the _Normandy's_ cargo bay door slide open as Joker slid the ship into range. I crossed into the open and set the Doctor down, breathing hard. Liara clung to my arm, practically leaning her entire weight into me.

Garrus, Tali and a crew of marines ran down the cargo bay ramp. "You have to jump!" Garrus shouted. "Joker can't get the ship in any closer without breaching the hull!"

"Wrex, you first!" Shepard ordered. "Then pull Williams across!"

Wrex leaped the distance, the catwalk shaking as his weight crashed off the edge of the grated floor. My feet were uncomfortably hot and my eyes slid down to the ground below us. Lava was pouring into the valley over the hills. The buildings on the far side were already catching fire. Wrex rolled onto the ramp and Garrus helped him to his feet. The krogan quickly turned around and was enveloped in a blue field as he pulled Williams across. As soon as Williams was clear, Shepard took a running leap towards the ship and landed, crashing into Tali's outstretched arms.

"Come on," she shouted as she spun around. The catwalk tilted, the metal squeaking as the heat melted the support structures.

"You first!" I ordered Liara, and the asari fizzled blue as she attempted to use her biotics to boost her jump, but failed. Without thinking I hit her with a throw just as Wrex captured her in pull.

The platform heaved again, settling into the molten lava. Here went nothing. I launched myself off the catwalk just as it crumbled beneath me, and my jump lost its momentum as the metal folded beneath me. I barely grabbed onto the edge of the cargo bay ramp, my hands slipping as I grappled for support and found none. I was going to lose my grip and die a burning, screaming death. My feet kicked the understand of the ramp, searching for a grip and finding nothing. I slid further, my head just barely above the edge of the ramp.

Suddenly Shepard was in front of me, grabbing my arms as she hauled me to safety. Her eyes pierced into my own. "I've got him, shut the door!"

The ramp started to rise and we tumbled end over end and landed in a heap at the base as the carbo bay sealed shut.

"Joker, get us out of here!" Garrus shouted, his voice echoing over the PA. "Tell Doctor Chakwas we've got incoming. Williams is injured."

I still hadn't risen, feeling like a goddamn lucky bastard because I'd just managed to cheat death by the skin of my teeth. The adrenaline rush died out as I caught my breath and I became fully aware of the beating I'd taken rushing back to grab the Doctor before the elevator could claim her for its victim. Perhaps I should think about investing more time into self-manipulation fields. I'd seen a few asari use biotics to jump great distances and land gracefully without impacting like a krogan cannonballing into pool. Anything that would help prevent me from smashing into a lake of molten lava got a thumbs up in my books.

"Thanks," I said, feeling Shepard shift against me as she sat up and removed her helmet. "I owe you one."

She slapped me across the back once I'd joined her and smiled. "Everyone ok?" she asked as she removed her helmet, and a round of 'ayes' echoed around the bay.

"I got a bullet in me, what do you think?" Williams shouted back, but the smile on her lips took the sting out of her words. Shepard barked a laugh as the Chief stood supported between two marines carefully removing her helmet.

"_Too close, Commander!"_ Joker's sarcastic welcome filtered over the comm. _"Ten more seconds and we would have been swimming in molten sulfur! The _Normandy_ isn't equipped to land in exploding volcanoes. They tend to fry our sensors and melt our hull. Just for future reference."_

I shook my head and exchanged a wry grin with Shepard. Strands of dark her were plastered across her forehead, and she wiped them away with the back of her hand and stood up. Of course Joker would say something sarcastic instead of 'good job, glad we got you on board!' It was his way of showing he cared. Shepard stretched out her hand and hauled me to my feet. I grunted at the exertion, my limbs aching where I'd crashed against the side of the ramp.

"We nearly died out there, and your pilot is making jokes?" Liara asked.

Shepard walked over to help the asari to her feet. Liara staggered, but was able to remain standing. "Joker saved our ass back there, I think he deserves a few bad jokes."

First Lieutenant Emmerson moved in front of me, opening his omni-tool. "I'm good, Emerson, just shaken."

"You know the procedure, Lieutenant," he retorted, "but I see that you're fine. You're clear."

"Thanks."

He nodded and saluted before marching towards the Commander. She waved him away and directed him to Liara who was now leaning against Tali for support as the disappeared into the elevator right behind Williams. I wasn't sure who'd be more pissed: Chakwas because a marine had been injured, or Williams because her armor had been ruined.

I walked over to the lockers, more than ready to remove my armor and download the logs to go over later so I could hit the showers and remove what felt like a solid cake of grime covering my face and neck. The suites had functioned surprisingly well in relaying amp output to my HUD and I was eager to go over the data and compare it against my old logs. Provided the logs further proved the usefulness of the tech, I cautiously considered the merits of purchasing my own set.

But shower first. A nice, hot, _long_ shower.

"Here, let me help," Shepard said and I turned around to see her standing behind me. I nodded, pivoted, and raised my arms, and she released the seals that held the chestplate against the back power supply. I slipped both pieces off and turned around so I could do the same for her, noting the many little (and not so little) dings where the rubble from the ceiling of the prison cell had collapsed around me, and others where a few lucky bullets had grazed against the hard plates after slipping through my shields.

"Hell of a shakedown," I murmured as Shepard raised her arms. I released the seals and she slid out of the chestplate.

**A/N: **Thank you to everyone for the influx of alerts and favorite over the past week! My inbox was flooded with those :)


	19. Kaidan vs The Banter

**Kaidan vs The Banter**

-K-

Doctor Chakwas released Williams from the medbay two days after exiting the Knossos System with strict orders that she wasn't to go on any missions for the next week. Even then, she'd have to be cleared through the Doc before she resuming normal duties. Williams hadn't taken too kindly to the fact that she'd effectively been grounded, even if it was for medical reasons. She was a fighter, a woman who liked to be in the thick of things. She didn't like being cooped up on the ship.

I activated the water systems in the men's showers and stepped in.

Not that we'd had a particularly exciting three days since leaving Therum. We had standing orders to patrol when not actively pursuing a lead on Saren. While Shepard was a Spectre, she was still an Alliance marine and had to follow the chain of command. She just had more license to kick some butts and decide to _not_ follow an order if it interfered with her mission.

Though as of yet, she hadn't taken advantage of the loosened reigns.

I couldn't fault her for that. Hell, if I were in her place, I wouldn't feel comfortable playing fast and loose with the Big Book of Regs. Or with the opinions of my superiors.

Shepard didn't outright criticize the Council for their interpretation of events, but I'd caught what appeared to be a small glimmer of defiance as she disconnected the line after being thoroughly and rudely dismissed. The turian Councillor had all but accused her of blowing the mine up on purpose. As if Commander Shepard controlled volcanic activity with the snap of her fingers and decided that the mission wasn't interesting enough without the added stress of a molten lava riding in the back of our minds, informing us just how serious shit was.

Judging from the somewhat relaxed way Shepard ran the ship, I'd hesitantly approached her after hours in the mess while she was nursing a cup of coffee and a headache the first night. The first I approved of, and the second I could empathize with.

Somehow that conversation had taken a turn from ruminating about the perils of navigating the political shores of galactic politics, quietly commiserating about the self-centered mindset most politicians seemed unable to step out of for even a fraction of a second, to a bull session where I'd ended up talking about BAaT, which had surprisingly led to mentioning Rahna. A girl I hadn't thought of for a long time. An old love that had simmered down to the small flame of candle.

I still wasn't sure what to make of my sudden open book policy on my past, or how the Commander had managed to turn the conversation towards the topic in the first place.

The implications were... unsettling.

I shut the water off to the shower and stepped out. Mist clung to the walls let white lint on black cloth, droplets sliding down languidly as the temperature slowly cooled now that hot water was no longer being pumped into the room. The faded welt on my chest where I'd smacked into cargo bay door jumping onto the ship from Therum was healing nicely, no longer an angry purple. The armor had protected me from broken ribs, something Doctor Chakwas noted with a cool arch of an eyebrow. The look was meant to suggest that marines were crazy sons of bitches.

It did take a certain kind of crazy to enlist. But it was the kind of crazy I approved of: the kind where maybe we do gamble with our lives, but the payout is often worth it.

After all, it's what we're trained to do. One of the few things the turian military and the Alliance had in common.

I quickly dressed and headed to the mess. At 0600 hours, the only thing really on my mind was the day's first cup of coffee, topped off with a semblance of scrambled eggs.

"Morning, LT," Williams greeted me as I rounded the corner. Tali and Garrus both waved. Tali was manhandling a nutrient paste tube, much to the amusement of the turian, who was doing his best to not spit out what he'd just shoved in his mouth.

I poured a cup of coffee, retrieved food, and sat down across from Williams. "Requisitions have what you need, Chief?"

She scoffed, "Hell no! Have to settle for the frakking Phoenix suit until we dock next at Arcturus. Unless Shepard approves a requisitions order delivery for the ship."

"The Phoenix armor is the pink set, right?" Garrus asked. He twisted around to look at the Chief. "The one set down there no one has touched?"

Williams glowered over her fork at the turian. "Hopefully we dock before I have to wear that piece of crap. Shepard better -"

"Shepard better what?" The Commander stepped around the partition separating the small hallway leading to her cabin from the mess. A wicked gleam danced in her eyes as she grabbed a cup of coffee and sat down next to me. I scooted over as much as I could to make room without bumping into the turian. "Shepard better...?"

Williams paled under her bemused scrutiny. "Uh..."

"Alenko?" Shepard asked.

"I plead the fifth, ma'am."

"I believe," Garrus started and Williams widened her eyes and Shepard's blue ones practically glimmered, "The Chief was about to say, 'Shepard better approve that frakking requisitions order before I have to wear the pink armor." He looked innocently at Williams. "That close enough?"

"I can't believe you ratted me out, Garrus."

"Had to weigh my options," the turian explained. "Shepard would kick my ass harder. I saw what she did to Alenko."

"Didn't Alenko win?" Tali asked.

"Alenko most certainly did win," I said, and every head turned towards me.

Shepard's eyes darkened as she looked at me over the rim of her coffee. "You asking for a rematch, Lieutenant?"

Chills ran up and down my spine as I met Shepard's eyes, and my skin suddenly felt warmer. "I wouldn't want to demoralize the crew, Commander."

"Actually," Williams interjected, "I believe it was _a terrific_ morale boost. Crew needs entertainment to blow off steam. Nothing better than watching two officers beat the crap out of each other."

Garrus leaned back in his seat. "Agreed."

"Maybe you should fight Shepard, Ashley," Tali offered. The nutrient paste tube lay abandoned next to her.

"You kidding me? I'd get my ass handed to me. And don't you even suggest Alenko. He'd use his trickery on me."

"My 'trickery', Chief?"

"Yeah, you know. Wave your arm and send my ass flying backwards."

"I don't normally use my 'trickery' in combat training."

"I saw the way you threw Shepard when she had you pinned." Williams leaned across the table, eyes narrowing. "Trickery." She sat back up. "Now, a good arm wrestling match? Nothing beats that, LT."

"She's got a point," Shepard mused, "I had you _pinned_."

"You asked for it, Commander. Wanted biotic defensive training."

"Certainly gave me a run for my money."

"I think credit chits across the ship felt the impact from that fight," Tali laughed, voice light with amusement.

Williams' got a devious gleam in her eyes. "Next time you two have a go, you should bet on the other winning."

Shepard folded her arms across her chest. "Why would we do that?"

"'Cause with how competitive the both of you are, it'd make it even more interesting."

"On the one hand, you'd want to win the bet," Garrus mused, and Williams nodded. "But..."

"But, they're too damn proud to lose a fight."

"Hmm" the thoughtful noise had an odd quality as it passed through the voice filter on Tali's suit. "It'd probably last longer because of the added complexity."

"Nah," Shepard said. "I'd win, give Alenko my money and make him buy me a beer with it."

"I think you're mistaken, Commander. _I'd_ win, give _you_ my money, and _you'd_ buy _me_ a beer."

Williams whistled across the table, her head bobbing back and forth between me and Shepard.

"You want to take this to the training room now, Lieutenant?"

"Please don't!" Tali interjected. "I have to report for my shift in engineering in 10 minutes."

The quarian qualed as two sets of eyes focused on her.

"This feels more and more like a turian vessel every day," Garrus remarked. The turian smirked at me, a knowing look in his eyes. What the hell was that about?

"Tali's right. Should put it off. I've got a check up with Chakwas, and watching you two," she stabbed her finger at us, "beat the shit out of each other, shootin' daggers out your eyes is too good to miss."

"Guess I'll just have to watch the vid Joker made of it," Garrus muttered.

Shepard straightened in her seat. "I thought Joker was kidding about that."

"Aw, hell Garrus. Now you've ratted _two_ people out."

"On that note, I've suddenly remembered something very important I have to do," Garrus stood up from the table. His mandibles twitched. "With the mako."

"I'll head down with you," Tali tossed the empty tube into the recycling bin. "Wouldn't want to be late for my first official duty shift in engineering."

"Frak, if you two are bailing, I'm heading to the medbay early." Williams grinned at Shepard, then me. She raised her hand to her ear as she walked away. "Joker, if the Commander and the LT head towards the training room, will you make a ship announcement?"

"_You betcha," _came the cocky reply.

Shepard tapped her fingers idly on the table, which seemed oddly loud in the silence that followed.

"What the hell do you think they put in this coffee?" she mused after a few minutes, swirling the liquid in her cup.

"Are we even sure it's coffee?"

"It _tastes_ like coffee..."

"Sure, and the egg stuff _tastes_ like eggs."

"I don't like your implications, Lieutenant."

I scanned the mess hall and turned to face Shepard... and noticed just how close she was sitting next to me on the bench. Neither of us had moved after the others left, despite the fact that the seating had been rather crowded. "You want in on a secret?"

Shepard set her cup down and looked at me. "You're not gonna tell me you uncovered some Alliance conspiracy involving a synthetic coffee grown in labs, laced with some crazy drug not unlike red sand in its addictive properties, as part of an experiment to see if the navy really does run on caffeine, are you? 'Cause I don't think I can take that kind of punch to the gut."

How in the hell did she come up with that? I stared at her for a moment before laughing. "No, nothing that crazy. My Mom sends me the good stuff from Vancouver." Shepard's eyes lit up, and I couldn't help but notice how amazingly expressive they were when she smiled. "I might be convinced to share the location."

She scanned the cupboards.

"You really think I'd leave something like _real coffee_ out where Joker can find it?"

"Alright, where is it?"

"See that green canister on the counter?" Shepard nodded. "It's not filled with biotic supplements."

"You're kidding me." I shook my head. "You're one sly sonofabitch, Alenko."

"Thanks, Commander."

"How the hell did you come up with that warning label?" She leaned across the table and squinted at the fake warning I'd stuck to the side of the can. It read: 'Not fit for non-biotic consumption unless otherwise directed by a medical professional.' After the first few times word got out that my Mom sent me the _good stuff_, the favors came rolling in. Before I knew it, I was out before I'd had more than three cups worth.

That's when I got creative. I'd cut a deal with Jake to help perpetuate the misinformation that as an L2 I had to take a certain supplement, and always mixed it in my coffee because it tasted foul. As a reward for his expert abilities of deception and continued silence, I let him have his share.

The jar followed me on my tours and the warning label served to ward off most people. The few biotics I worked with had their own vitamin supplements, and so didn't touch mine. That was the only reason there was an "Alenko" sticker plastered above the warning label.

"I had some help with a friend. You met him, actually. Jake. Wouldn't leave you alone on the bench on Arcturus?"

"He a good friend of yours?"

"Yeah, 'bout the only one." That came across a bit more bitter than I intended.

Fortunately, Shepard ignored the bleak, somewhat lonely comment. "You know, he reminded of someone I knew a long time ago. This kid named Paul, back on Mindoir." She grinned, a far off sort of look in her eyes as she stared at nothing in particular. "We grew up together, but he had that same sort of cheeky jubilance that your friend displayed. Used to call me 'Olive.' Never could decide if it was to piss me off or because he liked me." She paused. "It's what my Dad called me, since before I can remember."

"Teenage boys do the weirdest things for love," I said, remembering all the bumbling I did around Rahna back at BAaT. The one time she mentioned loving 20th century sci-fi vids had sent me on a quest to hack the net and download whatever I could get my hands on. That turned out to be Battlestar: Galactica, Doctor Who, and Star Trek: The Next Generation. The administrators had eventually tracked down my connection, and I'd been busted (though I'd at least had the foresight to store the data on an OSD and remove it from my terminal before they took it away), but the smile on her face had been worth it.

Even if she hadn't loved the programs, I'd gotten hours of entertainment from watching the shows. It kindled the 'romantic' notion of exploring space, which had inevitably been one of the motivating factors in my joining the Alliance. More opportunity to explore the final frontier.

Even if it was already settled.

"Good thing for him I decided I liked him, and in a moment of decisiveness before I could lose my nerve, I kissed him."

"Probably blew his mind."

"Did at the time, but by the time I was 16, we'd grown apart." Shepard's smile turned sad. "He was one of the survivors from Mindoir. He... committed suicide a few months after the rescue."

Damn. I wasn't sure what to say... 'hey, that sucks' and 'frak, that's terrible' were just platitudes that she'd probably already heard and would only serve one purpose: to fill the awkward silence that usually followed such a statement, and inevitably only make _me_ feel better instead of her.

So I bumped my shoulder into hers, unsure if I should do something more, or if that was even allowed because while the conversation was pretty candid, she was still my CO. "Not your fault."

"I know," she smiled at me. "Play the cards you're dealt instead of wishing for a different hand."

"Not the analogy I'd have used, but it works."

A noise behind us caused us to look back just as the medbay doors opened and the latest addition to the crew stepped out. Liara looked nervously at the table but seeing that we'd noticed her, she had no choice but to join sit down rather than turn heel and head back inside. Something I rather thought she would have done had Shepard or I been mid-sentence and not heard the soft hiss of the door opening behind us.

She sat on the edge of the bench directly across from Shepard after retrieving a small plate of food.

"Good morning, Liara," Shepard greeted her.

The asari paused in raising the fork to her mouth. "Good morning, Shepard." She stopped and appeared to contemplate something. "Or should I refer to you by your rank? Though your use of my first name would suggest that perhaps the use of your given name would be appropriate. May I call you Olivia?"

"Sure."

"Do the military personnel refer to you by your first name?"

Shepard shrugged. "I've never been against it, but as a rule, no. And never when I'm on duty."

"So only your friends in the military, then?"

Shepard cast an amused glance at me. "My friends call me 'Liv."

Liara nodded at me. "Does Kaidan call you that?"

"I've never heard him shout, 'hey 'Liv, you wanna hang?'"

Liara furrowed her brow and her eyes flitted from myself to Shepard.

"The Commander means no, Liara."

"But are you not friends?"

Damn, she was a curious one. And if I didn't know better, socially awkward to boot. I got the distinct feeling that she was more comfortable sitting in a dusty room full of books than she was talking to us at this table.

"Sure," Shepard shrugged again. "I guess it's just a military thing."

"Oh," Liara turned her eyes towards the table. "I am not entirely familiar with your species."

"I wouldn't worry about it," I reassured her, and she smiled gratefully at me.

"_Commander, you've got an incoming transmission from Admiral Hackett. Sounds urgent,"_ Joker interrupted over the comm.

"Relay it to my quarters, Joker." Shepard rose from the table, brushing against me as she slid off the bench. "Alenko, Liara." With that, she disappeared.

I got up to refill my coffee, beyond happy that the Alliance sported single brew coffee makers, allowing me to use my hidden stash without 'contaminating' an entire pot. As soon as it was done, I sat back down and breathed deeply, closing my eyes.

"What is that?"

I opened my eyes and saw Liara curiously examining the cup in my hands. "Coffee. One of the best human beverages out there. Would you like to try it?"

Liara thought for a moment before nodding, getting up, and retrieving an empty cup of her own. I noted with some amusement that she'd taken Joker's mug. The pilot would not be happy about that, but what he didn't know wouldn't hurt him. I deftly poured some of the coffee from my cup into hers. She raised it to her nose, eyes peering above the rim over at me as she inhaled. Her brow knitted together again.

She hesitantly touched the cup to her lips and sipped the beverage...

… and promptly spat it back out, eyes widening in disgust.

"By the Goddess, I've never tasted something so... so... foul!"

I couldn't help but laugh.

"You really enjoy this?"

"Me and every other marine aboard this boat. But it is an acquired taste."

Liara pushed the cup away from her towards the center of the table, as if physical distance would diminish the lingering taste.

"I would much rather have a cup of avos with my breakfast than _that_," she pushed the cup another inch away, and looked up to see my confused expression. "An asari tea, usually had in the morning. Perhaps I will be able to acquire some when we next dock at the Citadel."

Shepard rounded the corner leading to her cabin. "Alenko, stay put. You're officially on mission stand by." She raised a hand to her ear as she sat back down in her former seat. "Garrus, Tali, report to the mess hall ASAP."

"The brass have intel on Saren?" I asked. Liara stood up from the table, recognizing that we'd need it for the upcoming brainstorming session. She mumbled goodbye before disappearing back into the medbay.

"No. An old Alliance espionage probe has turned up in the Voyager Cluster. Admiral Hackett wants us to go in, retrieve it, and get out."

That sounded awfully familiar and tickled the back of my mind... Alliance history lessons about the First Contact War. Espionage probes were sent off for turian space, to do recon and gather intelligence. They also sported a nasty surprise because the Alliance naturally wouldn't want one of their probes to fall into enemy hands. "Didn't those old probes carry nuclear payloads?"

Shepard's eyes darkened. "They did indeed." Embarrassing for the Alliance, should anybody else discover the probe before us. "Started broadcasting a homing beacon, picked up by an Alliance Listening Post about an hour ago."

"Lot of space between us and the Voyager Cluster," I remarked.

Shepard shared a look with me. There may be a lot of space between, but we were the only ship capable of getting in and making a drop before the enemy - if there was one, which, let's face it, was highly likely at this point, because it was rare for Alliance beacons to activate on their own - knew we were there.

The door to their elevator opened, and Tali and Garrus sat down opposite us. Somehow, Tali managed to look despondent that her first shift in engineering had been interrupted by a mission call, despite the fact that we couldn't see her facial expression through the faceplate on her helmet.

Shepard opened her omni-tool. A holographic projection of the bomb floated above her arm. "This is what we know..."

* * *

**AN: **I'm not gonna be following the plot arc entirely of UNC: Espionage Probe. For one thing, a lot of the side quests in ME1 are kind of.. well, lackluster. So lots of changes, additions and tactical approaches have been added. Hopefully in an enjoyable manner :)

This update took a bit longer than expected, partially because of my new story 'Never Surrender' but mostly because I'm in the process of starting my own art business, of a sorts. Basically, costuming. And it requires a lot of time and attention to get the ball rolling. But I've worked out a lot of the details, and should be back on track for a more normal updating schedule.

That is, unless I can't pry myself away from Diablo 3 ;)

Anyway, thank you all for reading and reviewing, and for all the alerts! :) It means the world to me.


	20. Kaidan vs The Mine Shaft

**Kaidan vs The Mine Shaft**

-K-

"What do you think?"

Garrus passed the binoculars to me.

"Empty." It really was. Our intel had told us that Agebinium supported an Alliance mining operation. What current hands on experience told me was that the either the Alliance operation had ended and we just hadn't been told of that little fact, or (and this was the more likely option) mercs or pirates were responsible for the sudden lack of activity. And likely the presence of the probe, as well.

"Head back to the mako?"

"No, I'll radio Shepard, give her the sitrep."

I slid back down the crest we'd climbed for the vantage point, and activated the commlink. "Commander, we haven't seen any sign of activity for the past 30 minutes. Should we hold position or move in?"

The line was silent for a bit, then Shepard responded. _"Tell Garrus to head back. Sit tight, and I'll meet up with you."_

I relayed the Commander's orders to Garrus and the turian complied, hefting his rifle onto his back. He left the binoculars for me, and I continued surveilling the mine for any sign of activity.

By the time Shepard arrived, I could have painted a detailed mural of the facility, complete with the precise position of every pebble.

"Anything?" she asked as she scooted up the small rise and slid down next to me.

"Still no movement." I handed her the binoculars and she examined the facility for herself.

Shepard raised a hand to the external commlink. "Alenko and I are going to check out the inside of the mining shaft. I want you two to drive the mako to the entrance and set up a perimeter. Radio us at the first sign of movement."

"_Copy that, Shepard,"_ Garrus replied.

"Shepard out." She shut of her comm and looked at me. "I sure hope you like spelunking, Lieutenant."

"I've always wanted to go cave diving," I replied dryly.

We gathered our gear and headed off towards the entrance. The terrain was rough, which meant we didn't talk because we were too focused on not plummeting to our deaths. At one point, Shepard tripped and nearly slid down the side of the hill, but I managed to catch her and nearly twist her arm off before she fell, only for her to return the favor five minutes later when I decided that tumbling over the edge of a cliff seemed like a good idea.

By the time we made it to the mine, it was nearly dusk. Not that that really meant anything on Agebinium, because the daylight was dim to begin with. It really meant that things were a bit less red, as the light from the sun slowly diminished.

The door was partially open, the green holo-locking interface blinking.

Damn if that wasn't creepy as hell.

I slowly entered the mine while Shepard paused to examine the door.

"Service ladder over here, Commander," I said, peering down the deep shaft below me. I dropped a glow-stick down and traced its descent with my tool. Looked like it extended approximately 50 feet before touching bottom.

Shepard met me at the hatch to the ladder and peered over the edge. "Looks deep."

"Yeah, but probably better than taking the elevator." I stabbed my finger at the elevator shaft. "I can't shake the feeling that something just isn't right."

"Well, at least it's not pitch black." Shepard pointed at the lights. The mine was still getting power from somewhere. Without maintenance, generators only lasted about a week. And that was with proper solar energy. This rock didn't exactly qualify for adequate solar output.

"Really reinforces the abandoned facility vibe I'm getting," I looked around emphatically. "Kind of eerie."

Shepard slipped into the hole and started climbing down the ladder, her boots gently clanging against the harsh metal. I waited until she was about 10 feet down before sliding in after her. Even though I couldn't feel the air in the shaft, my skin clammed up nonetheless, somehow _knowing_ that the air in the shaft, thin as it was, was clammy and damp. Well, considering how cold Agebinium was, perhaps it wasn't damp.

My feet touched bottom and I pivoted away from the ladder and exited the small chamber it dumped out in. Shepard was standing a few meters in, beholding the massive excavation chamber in front of us. I pulled up next to her and activated my omni-tool, double checking that the probe's homing signal was coming from the mine. Confirmed, about a kilometer down what seemed to be the main shaft.

Shepard picked a path and started walking. "I could turn the power off if it'd make you feel better."

I stepped over a rock and caught up to Shepard. "I'm good, thanks." The idea of walking through these hollowed out caverns in the dark with only our omni's for light was not appealing.

"Reminds me of walking through the woods on Mindoir," Shepard said, the comms in our suits managing to convey the nostalgic tone to her voice. "The trees are so dense, you might as well be walking through a cave. The air was heavy, but refreshing. Just what you'd expect from a thickly wooded area with little sunlight. And 100% irresistible to a child."

"I grew up in the city, not many forests in Vancouver," I replied, picturing a really young Shepard sweeping through the woods, hair streaming behind her as she ran.

"You really grew up next to Alliance HQ? What was that like?"

"Meant my Dad was home more often than most, which Mom liked. Especially once he got promoted to Major."

"Never took family vacations?"

"Not often, no," I mused as we turned down the left fork of the branching path. It was unsettling feeling the ground crunch beneath my feet, and hearing the noise filter through the speakers in my helmet. Something that I'd never gotten used to over the years. "Mom wasn't exactly an outdoors kind of person. Her idea of a vacation was to head out to the beach house for a few weeks and soak up the sun."

"No beaches on Mindoir. At least, not where I grew up. I was 19 when I saw my first ocean. Absolutely hated the sand."

"Maybe you just weren't dressed for the occasion. I made sand castles all day long whenever we stayed at the beach house." I grinned, remembering the monstrosity of a castle I'd built on one of the rare occasions Dad had come with us. "Can't wear anything confining. Combat boots are a definite no."

"Ah," Shepard ducked her head beneath a support beam and glanced back at me through the breather plate in her helmet, "I guess that's what I did wrong. Kept finding sand in my locker for months after that trip."

"Were you on shore leave?"

"Yeah, first ship-side assignment after graduating basic. Docked at Terra Nova for two weeks paid leave. I swear, Terra Nova is covered in the stuff. Anyway, decided that since I'd never been to a beach, I'd go take a look, see what the fuss was all about. Wore my boots and pants. Worst mistake of my life."

I laughed. "That's definitely where you went wrong. Sandals are the rule for beach visits, especially sunny beaches. Shorts or skirts are second."

"Always?"

"Always. Trust the experience. Once sand gets in something, it won't come out, short of detonating it with C4. And even that might not do it."

"I like your style, Lieutenant. Hold up." She paused and backtracked down the path we'd come to examine a shaft splitting off I hadn't noticed. I don't know how she'd caught it, but according to the readings on my omni-tool, it seemed pretty likely the probe was down that branch instead of -

- An explosion rocked through the tunnel and the shock wave hit me in the chest before I had a chance to activate my barrier and I flew backwards. The power flickered wildly and cut out with a pop as I slammed roughly against the side of the tunnel and slid down to the ground. Bits of rock rained down around me, colliding with my armor. I raised an arm to block my faceplate from the projectiles and waited for the debris to settle. My back screamed in pain where I'd impacted against the wall and my head was pounding. I didn't hear a hissing noise, which meant at least the helmet hadn't cracked open like an egg...

My hardsuit computer clanged dissonantly and I opened my eyes, which I hadn't even realized I'd closed upon being flung against the rock-wall like a ragdoll caught in a tornado. '_WARNING: RUPTURE DETECTED IN MAIN O2 LINE.' _

Sonofa_bitch_.

I rolled over and pushed myself up, my body protesting the abuse, and squeezed some omni-gel onto the tiny fracture in the line. The warning ceased clanging in my ears and the O2 levels normalized, but at a much depleted capacity. Normal O2 tanks carried enough oxygen for about 24 hours of solid use before needing to be replaced or replenished. The mako had spare tanks aboard; hopefully we'd be able to trek our way back within the next 10 hours, or I'd be royally screwed.

The cavern was pitch black, the power lines completely destroyed by the explosion. I activated my omni-light and peered into the tunnel. What the hell had just happened? Dust and smoke hung in the air, visible in the light from my omni-tool. I clambered to my feet, my joints protesting at the sudden use, but otherwise felt fine. Nothing fractured then. Good. "Shepard?"

No answer.

"Shepard?" I called out louder, moving towards the blast zone. Towards the place where Shepard had been standing just before the bomb had gone off. Still no answer.

"Commander Shepard!"

Shepard had been standing only 10 feet from me. I crossed my former position, arcing my light back and forth for any sign of her. My omni lit up a pile of rubble where part of the tunnel wall had caved in.

"_Olivia!_"

A faint hissing noise caught my attention and I frantically started removing rocks from the pile and found the Commander half-buried beneath the rubble. Shepard was clawing at her throat with one hand, her other arm trapped beneath a very large piece of the cavern wall. I fought down a surge of panic as I kneeled down next to her and frantically removed chunks of debris off her. Panicking wouldn't do her any good. Her O2 tank had ruptured and was leaking air fast, a little cloud of oxygen greeting the frozen air forming around her head. I biotically lifted the boulder off her arm and pulled her free, dragging her out of the rocky pile. Her feet kicked the dirt as she fought for air. I twisted her around and shone the light on her back to find the leak. It was big: a huge gash running the entire length of the main line where she'd landed on a jagged rock. The tank had probably saved her life. I closed it off with omni-gel, keenly aware that every second mattered as she suffocated inside her own suit.

With the seal in place, I quickly disengaged the emergency tether from my own suit and connected it to hers, rerouting her oxygen supply through mine. She gasped raggedly as air rushed into her lungs and I realized I'd been holding my breath when I sighed in relief.

"Take it easy," I said, easing her into a sitting position next to me. The tether was only 3 feet long (who the frak designed these things?), which meant I was forced to sit down next to her. She coughed and I braced her by her shoulders so she wouldn't fall backwards.

We were now officially living on borrowed time.

"Thanks," she said once she could finally breathe. "I owe you one."

"You saved my ass on Therum. I'd say we're even," I replied. "Now hold still."

I maneuvered to kneel in front of her, but with the tether limiting my range, I was practically in her face as I examined her with my omni-tool. She'd fractured her left wrist pretty badly, but it wasn't broken. The hard gauntlets would probably protect her from further injury as long as she refrained from using it, which would have to do for now. I couldn't remove her glove to apply a brace without depleting our now extraordinarily precious supply of air.

"Your visor is cracked," Shepard said. Her voice was still ragged from the lack of air. A hand moved at my waist and Shepard removed my tube of omni-gel and applied it across the crack I hadn't noticed.

I didn't detect any other injuries with my scans and deactivated the field medic program. "Your left wrist is fractured, but otherwise you're fine. Surprisingly no internal bleeding."

"No shooting the sniper rifle then, eh?"

"Unfortunately, no. Unless you want to shatter the bones in your wrist." Shepard grimaced behind her faceplate. "I've got more bad news. My O2 line was ruptured and I leaked over half my air supply before sealing it. I'd say we have 4, maybe 5 hours before we run out completely."

"And suffocate together? Sounds pleasant." Shepard tapped me on the shoulder and started to rise. I followed her up. "At least I'm in good company should our untimely end be upon us. We should check out the tunnel we came from, see if there's a way past. My external commlink is busted, is yours?"

"No," I replied, catching on to what she wanted. I raised a hand to the button on the outside of my helmet. "Garrus, Alenko. Do you read?"

No answer. I frowned and repeated my call, Shepard paused in examining the rubble ahead of us to activate a program on her omnitool. "We're being jammed. Can't hack the source 'cause it's not on a network, but its got to be nearby, broadcasting. If we find it, I might be able to disable it."

"Just another thing to add to the list of how royally screwed we are."

Shepard shut down the program. "How long is it now?"

"Well," I said, examining the wall of rubble ahead of us where the tunnel abruptly ended, "Pretty damn long, and it just got longer."

Shepard shone her light where I was looking. "Frak me."

"I don't think I like spelunking anymore."

Shepard kicked the nearest small rock, sending it skittering into the wall of rubble. "I'd like to join that club."

"Spelunking Haters United."

"Seems an appropriate sister club to Geeks United."

"Might have to turn in my Hermit Card. Hermits love caves."

"Not this hermit."

Suddenly a flickering blue light lit up the tunnel behind us, casting harsh shadows. "I see someone survived." Shepard and I slowly turned to face each other before she walked around me to confront whoever had just spoken behind us.

A holographic projection of a very smug looking asshole confronted us. "Commander Shepard, how interesting that _you_ are the one sent in. This was truly meant to be." His voice oozed satisfaction. "I hoped the Alliance would send you, dreamed that you'd be the one to come... and here you are."

Shepard leaned back on her right foot and folded her arms, bumping softly into me. "Who the hell are you?" She eyed him up and down. "I think I would have remembered a face like that in my nightmares."

I suppressed a chuckle.

That was the wrong thing to say to the merc, though, because his face distorted in rage. "You ruined my career, and you don't recognize me?" he screamed. "I used to be one of the most powerful leaders of the Terminus bands until Commander frakking Shepard marched in and ruined the biggest operation of my career!" Shepard stiffened. "Do you recognize me now, Shepard?"

She clearly did, judging from her tense posture, but instead of responding to him, she turned to me. "He's kind of got anger issues, don't you think?"

Apparently, she didn't want to give him the satisfaction. Well, if I had to choose between pissing off my CO or some uppity merc... "I was thinking more ego-maniacal, but now that you mention it... he does look a bit enraged."

"See how his skin is all blotchy?"

"Not good for his complexion."

"Or his life expectancy."

"Nope. Wasn't there a study about how stress reduces your lifespan?"

"Yeah, something about high blood pressure."

"Weakens the immune system, too."

"Maybe he has a cold."

"Would explain his grouchiness. I'm grumpy when I'm sick."

"SHUT UP!" he shouted, stomping a holographic foot on the ground. Shepard turned back to face him.

"Shut up, _please_," she corrected him.

He ignored her trite remark. "I'm Elanos Haliat!" he thumped his chest. "When you interfered on Elysium, you ruined my career! With this probe, I'm getting it back. Not only that, but I get my revenge. Revenge on _you_, Shepard, for destroying something you had no right to stop in the first place! And then I'll regain my position as leader of the Terminus Bands!"

"You really think that's how this is gonna play out?" Shepard asked, sounding genuinely shocked that Haliat believed he'd be able to get away with it. The comment made the man pause. "I stopped you once. I'll stop you again."

"And how are you going to do that when you're trapped in a mine with no way out?"

"You sealed off one exit, not every exit."

His face contorted in anger. "If I were you, I'd be more concerned about the time." He tapped his wrist and a countdown flashed onto his omni-tool: 4:47 … 4:46. "I've won, Shepard. You just don't know it yet."

Shepard marched towards Haliat, jerking me after her as she walked straight up to his holographic face. "We'll just see about that."

She removed her pistol and shot the isolated power module projecting Haliat. He had planned this to a T. Obviously, we had tripped some sort of sensor during our approach, activating a timer for the mine collapse. He'd even anticipated a delay while we sorted ourselves out, expecting that anyone who survived would need a moment to collect themselves and take hold of the situation. He may be a failed man now, but he very much used to be a prominent figurehead in the Terminus Systems.

Until the day a lone Operations Chief had foiled his plans.

The time was ticking. We didn't know where the probe was, but one thing was for sure: if we didn't find it soon, the O2 levels in my tank would be the least of our concerns.

I met Shepard's eyes. Four minutes and change.

Frak.

-K-

**AN:** Don't know where the bomb is, have just over 4 minutes to find and deactivate it, there's no power... nah, nothing could wrong. ;)

Not sure if any of you are really into SI's (I know they can be tricky) but I've been writing an OC for 'Welcome to the New Family' named Violet for that story, and it's been tons of fun! Plus, it's just a good story :)


	21. Kaidan vs The ExTerminus Leader

**AN:** Wow, this was a long time coming, eh? Thank you all for being patient through my small bout of 'Memories' writer's block (especially since it coincided with a terrible cliffhanger). You guys rock.

**Kaidan vs The Ex-Terminus Leader**

-K-

"Bypass the primary control relay."

"If I do that, it'll trip the trigger mechanism. We need to disable the backup first."

"We can't do that first. The back-up's on a different board. Disabling it will take more time than we have. Kill the code behind the trigger release."

"If I could gain root access, I would, Commander. Have you unlocked the panel yet?"

"No, bastard changed the initialization codes. Alliance codes aren't working, and your program is crap against this."

"Don't blame the program. I told you it's command line functionality only right now."

"Then you do this part, and I'll gain root access."

"Ok, just let me twist around you."

"One minute left on the clock, Lieutenant. Twist faster."

"If you'd stop _moving_," I grabbed Shepard by her waist and held her in place. "There."

After a while, she said, "I've got root access. You ready?"

I finished typing out the rest of the line. Here went nothing. "As ready as I'll ever be. You sure you've got root?"

"You sure that program works?"

"You sure you'll win the next sparring match?"

"That's a go then."

We synced our actions and hit the metaphorical red button, holding our breath.

The countdown halted and we both breathed a sigh of relief. "Next mission that has a bomb, I quit."

"That was close," Shepard agreed, staring at the readout.

I sat back on my heels, inadvertently dragging Shepard down with me. She sat down with an, "Oomph!" and I spared an apologetic smile for her.

"Well," I said after a few moments, "At least we won't explode."

Shepard rolled her shoulders. "No, we'll just suffocate to death."

"Such optimism, Commander. I almost find it inspiring."

I really wanted to wipe my brow, because it felt _sticky_ following the past very intense four minutes. First item of business on my list once aboard the _Normandy _was a shower. Might hose my armor down while I was at it.

Shepard opened her omni and began mapping the mining system using basic topographical scanning software. That was a program I hadn't used in ages, but the maps we'd been provided by the Alliance weren't worth shit now that half the tunnel networks had caved in. Considering our one verified way out was definitely a no go in conjunction with the extraordinarily decreased shared air supply, basic topographical software was the best bet to find an alternative route. I only hoped that the secondary exit hadn't collapsed, and that the team responsible for setting up this operation had the sense to reinforce the cave walls.

Shepard overlayed her map with the one provided by the Alliance.

"Anything?" I asked her, but I could already tell it didn't look promising. The discrepancies between the two were many. And that was just looking at the area around our position.

Shepard grunted. "Maybe if we start moving in a general... that way direction."

I gently tugged on the line connecting us while Shepard continued mapping, silently requesting that she backtrack just a few steps so I could kneel down next to the probe and remove the trigger mechanism. Probes launched during the First Contact War (and even shortly after, though no such record would be in the Alliance database) sported basic trigger mechanisms, because while at war with the turians, the brass in the Alliance at the time hadn't entirely discounted the possibility that _other_ species were out there in the 'final frontier.' Just in case a probe went off the grid (as this one seemingly had, though touching down in the Voyager Cluster was nowhere near the predicted flight paths for this probes IDC, hence the _Normandy_'s presence), the engineers thought it would be a good idea for the trigger to be of a simpler construction without 'booby traps' that would detonate the cargo.

Just because the Alliance didn't booby trap the device over twenty years ago didn't mean I didn't check for traps now. Haliat struck me as an especially intense brand of crazy for a sociopath, though I wasn't sure if he'd always been that way or his fall from power following the Blitz had _turned_ him this way. Regardless, he was a dangerous sonofabitch, and dangerous sons of bitches had a tendency to like watching things go 'boom.' While I wasn't morally opposed to explosions, I made an exception when those 'things' included me.

Fortunately, Haliat appeared to be the brand of crazy that overlooked opportunities to blow up the enemy in increasingly creative ways due to his excitement, because the trigger mechanism was untouched. I pocketed the small device, rendering the payload ineffective. Once he heard the distinct _silence_ at the detonation time, he'd undoubtedly try to remotely detonate the bomb. When still nothing happened, he'd know Shepard was coming for him.

Wouldn't that just be terrifying? I discreetly looked at her as she kneeled somewhat behind me, silently cursing at the mapping software, delicately holding her left wrist because the pain was probably just enough to be annoying. I imagined all Shepard needed was _one_ limb with which to hold a gun in order to go on a killing spree. Haliat was well and truly frakked, provided we found a way out of the mine.

I started to rise and Shepard extended her right hand, hauling me to my feet.

Earlier thoughts concerning walking through the caverns without power brought a dry chuckle to my lips as we walked, the map updating as we progressed towards the main shaft. Shortly after disconnecting with Haliat, we'd frantically (though as marines, our reports would say _anything_ but frantic, and anyone who read the reports would know that despite whatever word we ended up using, frantic is what we meant) tried to locate the signal from the probe so we could disarm the payload.

"_..-epar... -lenko... -is.. Tali, …-copy?"_

Shepard dropped her arm, and therefore omni-tool, and looked at me before pointing at her busted commlink. "Tali, it's Alenko, do you copy?"

"_Alen- … terference... -ound a communicat- .. -ammer and dis-... plosion... much ..."_ The rest cut out in static.

"Tali, there's a lot of interference. We can't clean it up on our end."

"_Alenko, the int...rence from- …unnel collapse is- …tensive. Mercs took- ...mako. I don't kn-... -appened to Garrus. The-... idn't find me, I was-... -ine shaft. Detec-... signal, Garrus sai-... check it out aft- .. -ouldn't raise you on the comm. He- …-ith the mako. Th- ..plosion knocked out- …. wer grid. The bosh-.. -ired it directly in- … -ly basic backup ... -nerator."_

"Garrus is taken?" Shepard asked, and I repeated the question to Tali.

"_He stayed wi-.. -mako. After … explosion, he … gone, along with the mako. How's that?"_

"Much better," I said before Shepard caught my attention and mouthed 'How'd she do it?' "How'd you clean it up?"

"_Used the jammer to extend .. range. Should be less interference, now."_

Shepard poked me in the arm again. Clearly, she was enjoying having to relay her orders and questions through me as much as I was doing it. I was about to open my mouth and ask Tali Shepard's question when a thought struck me. The range integrated into the helmets was supposed to be pretty decent, which is why the audio was typically inundated with environmental noises while transmitting. If Shepard was close enough, she might be able to speak through mine provided she spoke loud enough, which, frankly, wasn't something I doubted she could do at all. I deactivated the comm and quickly told her my idea, she nodded, and we situated ourselves rather awkwardly close, faceplate to faceplate.

I decided it would be impolite to both close my eyes or stare at the Commander while our noses were separated by only two sheets of plexiglass and a few inches of space.

On Therum, when Williams had barrelled into us, thereby saving at the very least my head from becoming a goopy, wet mess splattered on Shepard's shocked face, and the at the very most both our heads from turning into goopy, wet messes splattered all over the mining laser control panel, therefore leaving Liara royally screwed in terms of rescue since Williams and Wrex had zero tech expertise, I hadn't really had the time to truly look at Shepard's eyes. I'd been too busy wondering what in the hell had just happened and seriously trying to determine whether or not I was, in fact, dead and simply found myself in some sort of limbo where I just didn't know that I was dead. Then there were bad guys whose butts needed kicking.

Now I found myself unexpectedly confronted with them. Despite the poor lighting, I was able to make them out clearly.

They were a deep gray-blue with flecks of darker blue, reminding me of that moment right before sunrise, when the sky just begins to lighten and the sun is only inches from the horizon, waiting to paint the world with vibrant colors.

I also noticed that Shepard had a light dusting of freckles dotting her nose and just below her eyes, lining her cheekbones.

I raised my hand and reactivated the commlink. "Tali, it's Shepard. How'd you do it?"

"_Shepard? I used the jamming mechan- … to extend the range. All the necessary components are there, just had to .. -pose them. What do you want me to do? I climbed down the … -shaft, but the tunnels are collapsed. It'd take days to dig through it all." _Shepard rolled her eyes at me. Terrific. _"I'm glad you two weren't caught in it."_

"Oh, we were caught in it alright," Shepard replied, grinning at me. Her right hand kept twitching, lightly tapping against my left, as if to raise to her own commlink while talking through mine. "We're operating on four hours of air supply, give or take."

"Mostly take."

"Alenko says mostly take."

"She heard me say that, Commander. It's my commlink."

"Right," she smiled. "How's the territory over the mountain? If we're going to take down Haliat's operation before he has a chance to get off world, we better do it fast."

"_You want me to head to the secondary entrance?"_

"If you can, yes."

"_Should be easier for me than you. There's a narrow road around the mountain leading to the secondary entrance. I should be there in... fifteen minutes."_

"You didn't happen to grab a spare tank of O2 for absolutely no reason when you left to check out the jammer, did you?"

"_Sorry, Shepard."_

Shepard shrugged. "It was too much to hope for. Alenko and I will meet you at the entrance. If you beat us to the punch, see what you can do about scoping out Haliat's operation. Hopefully he isn't set up too far away. Shepard out."

"_Will do, Shepard. Tali out."_

I lowered my hand and returned to a normal distance. Well, as normal as the too-short tether would allow.

The way out proved to take us a hell of lot longer than Tali's path. Half of the tunnel networks had collapsed, forcing us to backtrack and find another way out of the system. By the time we made it to the surface, we were both breathing fairly heavily from the digging we'd been forced to endure when there was absolutely no other option (though I'd done most of it since Shepard's wrist was damaged and I had the advantage of being able to lift things with my mind). The generally steep incline didn't help matters, either, because while the main entrance sported a ladder/elevator combination, the secondary entrance simply sloped upwards. We'd depleted an hour's worth of air by the time we saw sky again.

Two dead mercs greeted us at the entrance, sporting perfectly placed shotgun wounds to the chest. Haliat had been smart enough to guard this entrance (though why he hadn't simply collapsed the entire network was unfathomably idiotic, and the only explanation I could come up with is that he _wanted_ to confront the woman who ruined his career), and Tali had been good enough to take care of them.

"Why the hell are you two tethered?" Tali asked, sliding down the ridge just ahead of us as we walked towards her. "Is that why you wanted an O2 tank?"

I exchanged a bemused glance with Shepard. "Collapse caught me, ruptured my tank, and Alenko had to link us. His ruptured, too, just not as bad."

"Fortunately for us."

Tali waved her hand. "Fortunately for us, Haliat's operation is just on the other side of that ridge. I saw them move Garrus into one of the mining houses, but not before he took down two of their men. I'm surprised they didn't just shoot him."

"Probably want to use him as a bargaining chip for my cooperation," Shepard replied. "Unfortunately for them, we'll be knocking down their door before they have a chance to so much as point a gun at him."

Tali eyed the line connecting us dubiously, and I had to admit I was hesitant on exactly how Shepard expected this to go down with only one good hand and another soldier strapped to her. We didn't really have a choice, though. The _Normandy_ was in deep orbit with order to remain out of sight and secondary orders to prevent any departing spacecraft from exiting the system. Besides, by the time Joker would be able to get in, Shepard and I would have suffocated to death and the mercs would have cleared out, stomping on our thrashing bodies as we died.

"You still have the binoculars, Alenko?" I handed them over and Shepard began heading towards the ridge.

The merc base really wasn't that far, practically sitting at the base of the ridge we were occupying. That would make sneaking in a hell of lot harder, but not impossible. The remaining O2 left in the tank gave us a window of three hours to secure the base, get inside the mako, and switch out my tank. The omni-gel I'd slathered on Shepard's main-line would prevent oxygen from leaking, but her tank holster was trashed. The CO2 scrubber had been busted when she cracked the tank wide open; it wouldn't function even with a fresh tank. No matter what, we were stuck together until we reached the _Normandy_.

Tali slid up next to me, barely cresting her head above the ridge. "Which building are they holding Garrus in?" Shepard asked.

"You see the civilian structure about ten meters aft of the mako?" Shepard grunted her response. "Unless they moved him while I was meeting you, that's where they're holding him." Tali slid down a foot and opened her omni-tool, tapping my leg. I tapped Shepard's arm and we both moved down next to the quarian, Shepard leaning awkwardly over my shoulder. "This road goes down the side of the ridge. I checked it out earlier. Haliat has two guards stationed near the bottom, so if you're shooting for a more silent approach, that's not it. They'll be able to see us coming long before we can do anything about it. But," the map swivelled on her 'tool, "this path, while a little steep, will bring us in _here_."

"Where we'll be able to get the drop on them before they know what's happening. Excellent. Tali, you'll take point on this for... understandable reasons."

"Yeah, how's this going to work, Commander?" I asked.

"Just like it would under normal circumstances, except we'll be really close. I'll stay on your right so I can shoot. We'll just have to be good at communicating maneuvers."

Tali shook her head. "And hope the line doesn't get severed."

"We won't give them a clear shot," Shepard replied. "Let's move."

The path down the ridge was steep, treacherous, and with just enough room for one person to walk normal, which meant that I was hot on Shepard's heels, having decided that she should go first because one, I was larger and less likely to be dragged down should she fall and two, she meant what she said about the canyons and those words extended to scary-ass mountains with an abundance of jagged rocks upon which to break necks. The trek down and around the merc operation took another forty minutes, and as we crept up behind one of the small manufactured civilian units, I was acutely aware of exactly how close the mako was and the number of spare O2 tanks it carried.

"At least they don't have jamming tech set up," I said, shutting down my omni-tool.

Shepard slid along the back of the wall and poked her head out just far enough to take stock of the situation. "Three tangos patrolling the perimeter. Radar shows eight more inside the two structures, along with Garrus." She pulled her head back. "Tali, you're going to rush out on the other side, take down the guard patrolling that side. Alenko and I will move out on this side and take care of the other two. The ones inside will rush out once the shooting starts, so keep an eye on your six. Hopefully we'll distract them enough, allowing Garrus to get the upper hand."

Tali nodded and moved into position, unholstering her shotgun. Shepard removed her Razer and I my Carnifex. I flipped it in my hand and held it out for Shepard. She looked at it for a second before pulling her gaze up to me. "You need it more than I do. It doesn't fire as quickly as the Razer, but it's more accurate. It sports a bit of a kick, but if you maintain a solid grip, you'll be perfectly capable of firing it with one hand."

"You sure?"

"Heat sink allows for six rapid shots before overheating. I haven't gotten around to upgrading that part yet. Ammunition block is a customized for armor-piercing rounds."

"It doesn't look like a cannon."

"Don't let it fool you."

"You sure want to use the Razer?"

"It'll be different, but I can supplement it with biotics." I looked at her. "Not that the Razer is bad, just not what I'm used to."

She accepted the gun and tested the weight in her hand, checking all the levels, then handed me her Razer. It felt lighter in comparison to the Carnifex, but not significantly lighter. "Fires twelve rounds rapidly before overheating, also sporting armor-piercing rounds, though I've modded it with a recoil damper."

Once we were both familiar with the others weapon, Shepard signalled Tali, counting down from three with her fist. The mercs never saw us coming. By the time the ones in the buildings knew what was going on, the guards were taken care of, and we'd regrouped on the other side of the mako, using it as a defensive position.

The first two to come outside were unceremoniously flung through the air, landing some twenty feet away. They didn't get up. Shepard knelt in front of me, and picked off the third while Tali shot the fourth and fifth from her position across from us, facing the other civilian structure. A flicker of movement caught my attention, and I turned just in time to see a merc flank us around the mako, raising his gun. Without thinking I hauled Shepard to her feet, wrapped an arm around her waist, and swung her through the air. Her feet landed against the merc's chest, knocking him off of his feet. She shot him in the head before he hit the ground.

I nodded at her when she turned around and we quickly sprinted along the mako. I had a barrier up as soon as Shepard rounded the corner and it flickered wildly as it deflected a shot from a rifle.

Haliat stood just outside the entrance, clearly shocked that he was cornered. A possibility he apparently hadn't considered when he set up his little operation here. Tali edged around him and closer to us. I counted the dead bodies. Nine, plus Haliat, which made ten. We were missing one.

I'd just started to swivel my gaze as I walked slightly to Shepard's left and one step behind her when the window from the other civilian structure shattered as the eighth merc flew through it. He landed in a heap, but Garrus didn't come out.

"Nice revenge," Shepard said, stopping about four meters short of Haliat.

The former Terminus leader didn't respond.

"Not feeling talkative? That's fine, I'll talk for you." Despite the blasé words, Shepard maintained a firm grip on the gun. "You've got two options here. One, you surrender and we take you in. You'll most likely go to prison for the rest of your life, but you'll _have_ a life. Two, you don't surrender and we do this the hard way. Your life ends right here, on this rock, in the ass end of nowhere. Which one is it going to be?"

"You think it's that easy, Shepard?" Haliat spat.

"I do. Pick."

He simply stared at her before slowly removing the vest covering his armor, revealing enough C4 strapped to his chest to blow a small crater on this rock. Anything within a radius of twenty meters around him could kiss its ass goodbye. "How about this option?"

"Suicide bomber?" Shepard retorted, almost as if she was bored, but her left hand brushed against mine, silently ordering me to be ready. "Couldn't think of something original?"

As soon as he'd revealed the C4, I'd started amassing dark energy, ready to erect a barrier at a moments notice.

I switched off the external speaker on my suit while Haliat ranted at Shepard about 'justice' and 'dying for the cause' and informed Tali that she should move closer so I could encase us in a smaller barrier, therefore making it stronger. The larger the field, the weaker it was against attacks, which was generally why most barriers only enveloped the biotic in question and nothing else. The quarian made as if to examine the dead merc in front of her, kicking him with her boot, before moving closer to us.

Shepard's conversation with Haliat was going nowhere, fast. He'd removed the detonator and was holding out in his hand, though from this distance, I couldn't tell if he'd pressed the button.

"Stand down," Shepard repeated, but Haliat shook his head.

"I'm not going to be your bitch, Shepard. You're not taking me alive. And if I'm gonna die, you're gonna die with me. So say goodb-"

A loud _crack!_ resounded and Haliat's head exploded. My barrier lit up like a match, crackling in place, but nothing happened.

Anti-climatic, but certainly welcome.

Shepard started walking, yanking me after her. She halted over his corpse just as Garrus exited the structure behind us, sniper rifle extended up over his shoulder. Shepard stared down at Haliat coldly.

"Goodbye."


	22. Kaidan vs The Leviathan's Kiss

**Kaidan vs The Leviathan's Kiss**

-K-

Admiral Hackett set the datapad with Shepard's report detailing the mission to retrieve the probe down on the desk in front of him. He leaned against the edge, hands clasped in front of his face, tapping his index fingers against the tip of his nose. "It's just a shame you couldn't bring Haliat in, Commander. Any intel he could have provided would have been invaluable."

Invaluable.

I didn't doubt for a second that Elanos Haliat could have written a book covering a wide spectrum of various topics the Alliance didn't know concerning pirate operations in the Terminus Systems. Undoubtedly, there would be enough information leftover to pen a sequel. It was unlikely that ringleaders from seven years ago wouldn't have changed, as pirate groups had a higher than normal mortality rate - something typically not featured in the 'Become a Pirate Today!' brochure handed out a recruitment parties. I imagine what Admiral Hackett was really interested in were locations, tactics, recruitment methods, trafficking routes, schedules. Even a failed terminus leader would have current intel. More importantly, he'd know the important connections that he'd used before his downfall.

No, I didn't doubt for a second that Haliat had useful intel.

What I did doubt was that he would have ever given it to us. His potent hatred for all things Shepard (which extended to the Alliance) combined with his particular brand of crazy meant that we would never have been able to take him in alive. If I had to choose one word to describe him, I would choose rabid, as it would convey several different nuances that would effectively and efficiently inform someone who had never met him about his character. One cannot reason with rabid people. Bluff them and they'll call it every time - not necessarily because they knew it was a bluff, more because they don't care. Which leads to the second character attribute: rabid people tend towards recklessness. That's not to see they cannot be meticulous and plan operations to perfect detail, but when the time for execution comes, they'll burn through their options faster than lint burns in a fire. The first two traits working in concert inexorably meant that the rabid were dangerous. To everyone, including themselves.

I'd mentioned rabid in my report.

I had struggled with 'frantic' but eventually settled on 'urgent' and 'high-stress situation.'

"Invaluable, certainly, sir," Shepard replied, hands resting behind her in a perfect parade rest. "As stated in my report, however, I suspect Haliat would never have cooperated with the Alliance."

Shepard and Hackett discussed the mission in detail while I politely stood next to the Commander, ready to answer any questions directed my way if necessary. Though, knowing both officers, that wouldn't happen, and not because my input wasn't valued, but rather because both officers had a copy of my mission report. Anything they needed from me could be found on that datapad currently resting on the desk between us. This was an informal debrief between an Admiral and the CO of the mission he'd sent her on.

Well, debrief alongside handing the probe over to the Alliance. I was relieved to have the damn thing off the ship, because despite the fact the trigger had been separated from the the payload, it had still made me nervous resting in the cargo hold. Logically, I knew that the payload was rendered ineffective and only a catastrophic emergency such as detonating the drive core, or the _Normandy_ blowing up would have set off the bomb. Since I'm typically a pretty logical guy, the mental unrest struck me as a bit odd, but when I _really_ sat down to think about it, I decided it most likely stemmed from the fact that the payload was almost as old as I was.

I just didn't trust old tech.

Williams had been able to employ the wonderful excuse that could pretty much get a marine out of doing _anything_ while aboard Arcturus, thereby saving her from having to stand at attention for an hour: 'I need to fix my armor for deployment.' No CO in their right mind would refuse that request.

Admiral Hackett finally rose from his desk. "I have one more question for the record. I understand you've recommended Lieutenant Alenko for a commendation."

"I have, Admiral. My report clearly outlines my reasons behind the recommendation. If required, I can reiterate them here."

"That won't be necessary, Commander. I'll read through your full report later, and I'm sure your recommendation will be accepted. At ease." Hackett held out his hand towards the small sitting area extending off his office.

As I sat down next to Shepard, I mused about what Admiral Hackett had said. The commendation was a surprise to me, though honestly, not an entirely unpredictable one. I had, after all, saved the CO's life on the mission to retrieve a nuclear payload that had fallen off the grid into the hands of crazy. Not only that, but I'd managed to maintain some semblance of calm, despite an internal freak out session that I _still_ hadn't reopened after carefully filing the incident away, while saving said CO's life and didn't let the fact that we'd been living on crap time in a crap situation with an even crappier task set ahead of us demoralize me.

No, it wasn't entirely surprising. But it was damn well pleasing.

Half an hour of shop talk (discussing the mechanics of the new drive core, the _Normandy's_ performance - amazing -, and the effectiveness of the IES) with Admiral Hackett later, Shepard and I finally escaped the Admiral's office. We rounded the corner leading to the corridor that would take us out of the Alliance HQ on Arcturus and back to 'civilization'. In this case, 'civilization' meant 'away from the scrutiny of the Admiralty', accompanied by the decreased chance of running into the Prime Minister. It opened up onto a wide staircase with a large receptionists station at the base, curved in front of the entrance. Marines and civilians mixed together, forming a queue. The air hummed with chatter and announcements.

We passed through the throng of petitioners onto the main floor. Shepard ducked to my other side, and I arched an eyebrow questioningly at her. She jerked her head towards a journalist standing in the far corner, pinning down marines as they passed to ask a few questions. Probably hoping to snag an Admiral or someone with the capability to increase their ratings.

"Which armory shop did Williams say she'd be at?" Shepard asked.

I racked my brain for whatever Williams had said shortly before stepping off the ship, but Shepard had already activated her comm to get Williams' attention.

After a moment, she lowered her hand. "No answer."

"Guess she doesn't get to help pick the destination."

Shepard barked a laugh and nodded. We meandered down the street past a couple of tech shops, stopping once to admire the prototype Nexus omni-tool on display on a demo unit. It featured a new promising architecture developed by salarians. The sheer processing power left my Logic Arrest sitting in the dust. Granted my Logic Arrest was a few years old... I added 'new omni-tool' to my list of things to look into.

After much drooling, comparing, and analyzing, we exited the shop and continued walking under the pretense of searching for a place to eat or grab a snack. For the time being, I was content to just walk and enjoy current company. It was our first real breather in the few short weeks since Shepard had become humanity's first Spectre. Barely a month since the _Normandy_ had first launched its maiden voyage.

The comm chip in my ear buzzed and Williams' voice filtered through on the open channel used by the ground team. "Hey, Skipper. Sorry I didn't pick up. Got a little loud in here for a while."

"Williams, 'bout time. Alenko and I are done at HQ. Where are you?"

Background noise filtered in over Williams' end. "This guy is still working on my chest piece. I swear, men take so long to finish, am I right?"

"Not in my experience."

I arched an eyebrow at Shepard, and she grinned and mouthed, 'armor,' but her expression gave her away.

"When was the last time someone worked on your chest piece, Skipper?" I could practically hear the smirk oozing over the line. The imagined delivery was followed by a sigh and a shake of the head from the woman next to me. "Besides, I don't mind a guy taking his time, but this is getting ridiculous."

Shepard adopted a lecturing tone. If I hadn't heard her words, I would have assumed she was discussing the fine points of utilizing cover on the battlefield instead of the less applicable (from a purely combative vantage point) advice she freely gave to Williams. "You're supposed to encourage them, Chief."

Shepard punctuated the statement with a wink when I glanced at her. I rolled my eyes and tugged on her elbow, steering her down a side street.

"I don't know, most guys find it intimidating when I try to encourage them too much."

Shepard opened her mouth to speak, but in one of my rare moments of impulsivity, I beat her to the punch and said, "Shouting like a drill sergeant isn't considered proper encouragement."

Shepard barely stifled a laugh. "Hey, it's not my fault most guys can't handle me, LT."

"Perhaps you should relax and enjoy the ride," Shepard suggested.

"I prefer a hands on approach."

"Do guys like a hands on approach?" Shepard asked, tapping my arm to let me know the question was directed at me.

I shrugged. "Certainly not when they're working on chest pieces."

Williams sighed dramatically. "Guess it was never meant to be, LT."

If I'd been drinking something, I would have sprayed it all over the street. Shepard smacked me bracingly on the back anyway. "Don't sound too heartbroken, Williams. So you coming with us?"

"Nah, you two have fun. I'm stuck here till my armor's done. Besides, scuttlebutt says Alenko's already sweet on someone else. I never stood a chance."

Uh, what?

"That so?" I asked after a moment of too long silence, inwardly cursing the surprise that I wasn't able to keep out of the question.

"That _is_ so," Williams replied entirely too gleefully. "But I'll leave the mystery for later. You two are free to be geeks without judgment."

The comm channel clicked off just as we came up on my favorite coffee shop. I hadn't even been thinking about our direction as we talked. My feet simply carried me here, beating down the path I'd travelled many times while aboard Arcturus. I gestured at the small café before leading Shepard in.

It had an older, homier feel to it than most cafés, likely induced by the warm color scheme and paintings of cups of coffee that adorned the walls, aided by the overly-fluffy chairs, soft rugs, and a stone fireplace in the center of the room. The fireplace was purely decorative, but pieced together the illusion that one was standing not a space station but rather on a street planetside pretty well.

We'd just paid for our drinks and were about to sit down when Shepard's 'tool chirped. She skimmed over the message before quietly muttering, "Aw hell," under her breath.

She looked up at me apologetically once she finished reading. "My friend Kassy just got called back on tour early." She ran a hand over her pony-tail. "You mind if we cut this short?"

"Not at all," I replied. "When the brass says, 'jump' you say, 'how high?'"

Shepard smiled at me gratefully and despite the fact that I was genuinely enjoying myself (and had the presence of mind to recognize that it was the _company_ I was enjoying more than the activity) and was willing to put off things I wanted to get done while docked at Arcturus in the interest of having a good time, I couldn't find it in myself to be annoyed by the situation. Marines live a life of constant change.

If Jake had been aboard and suddenly had to cut and run on pre-made plans, I would have done the same thing.

"You're a saint."

"If I have to give an acceptance speech for that commendation, I'll be sure to say so."

"You're also a smartass."

"I'll leave that out."

Shepard arched an eyebrow evilly at me over the edge of her omni-tool as she quickly typed out a response. "I won't."

"Damn."

She shut down her 'tool. "Got any plans for dinner? I find myself unexpectedly alone and would rather not sulk aboard the ship."

The controlled, carefully aware part of my brain slammed on the brakes in order to prevent the eager, impulsive side from taking over and saying, 'It's a date.' A simple line which was very nearly uttered by my traitorous lips. "Sure, I didn't really have any plans."

"Awesome," she took a swig from her beverage.

"Should we invite Williams?" I asked.

Shepard waved her hand dismissively. "Williams cut out on us. She's on her own."

"The shore leave equivalent of 'scrub the engines'."

"Exactly."

I said goodbye to Shepard and was just about to head out when I heard a voice holler behind me, "'Liv!"

I turned around and was greeted with the sight of a light-brown-haired marine shouldering a duffel striding right up to me. I don't know if I thought Shepard had been joking when she said her friends called her 'Liv or not, because the use of the nickname surprised me.

Shepard didn't strike me as a 'Liv. But maybe that was just me.

Shepard embraced her friend, brushing past me. "Hey Kassy!"

Kassy dropped her duffel onto a nearby chair and returned the hug.

After a brief hesitation, I decided against introducing myself, lazily saluted Shepard, and began making my exit, activating my omni. I didn't want to intrude on what was clearly a personal meeting, despite the flare of curiosity that coursed through me at seeing Shepard interact not as the Commander or CO, but as that of an old friend.

"He's not coming with us?"

I paused and glanced back at Shepard and her friend. Shepard looked equally surprised.

"Come on, 'Liv, we're just getting a _book_, he can come with us. It'll take like five minutes, then you can get back to your geek speak." She eyed my open omni-tool significantly.

Shepard smirked at Kassy, then cocked her head, expression expectant.

I shrugged and closed the 'tool. "Sure, I'll come."

"Kassandra Black." Kassy stuck out her hand and I accepted it.

"Kaidan Alenko."

I hung back behind Shepard and Kassy as we headed to what I learned five minutes into the walk, despite all attempts to _not_ eavesdrop on the two women, was Shepard's apartment. I managed to gather from the short snippets that floated my way that Kassy was not a geek - much like Jake; I inwardly mused if all geeks had at least one non-geek friend that perpetually gave the geek in question crap. I recognized from the insignia on Kassy's duffel that she was infiltrator class, but apparently her love of hacking in combat didn't extend to a love of terrible sci-fi. Or good sci-fi, for that matter.

Were it not for the biotics, I would have specialized as an engineer. Sentinel training was a compromise.

We rounded a corner and headed into the N barracks. My apartment was a couple decks below in T barracks, where I was perpetually surrounded by the buzz of nerd chatter. There was a running joke aboard the station that if you wanted outdated tech or something especially rare, all you had to do was walk the halls of T barracks and you'd find at least one tech-head who had exactly what you were looking for.

In comparison, N barracks felt spartan. Subdued. There was certainly less clutter and fewer open doors. N's were typically deployed on missions and were less likely to be aboard station for anything longer than a day or two.

"The book is in here somewhere..." Shepard opened the door to her apartment and disappeared into her bedroom. Kassy immediately bee-lined into the living room and, not wanting to awkwardly stand alone in the entryway, I followed her.

She threw her duffel on top of the coffee table and pulled a book out. "I take it you and Shepard have known each other for a while?"

"Yep. Met when we were part of the same sniper squad and we've been friends ever since." She flopped onto Shepard's sofa. "So _you're_ the one that kicked 'Liv's ass."

I flushed and crossed to the other side of the couch to sit down. I hadn't expected Shepard would share that bit of news. "Only because she'd never fought hand to hand with a biotic before."

Kassy rolled her eyes dramatically. "Riiiiight. But you still totally kicked her ass."

She punctuated the statement by tossing the book onto the coffee table, glancing over her shoulder as a muffled curse escaped Shepard's bedroom. The cover caught my attention and my eyebrows attempted to climb straight off my forehead. _The Leviathan's Kiss_ slid across the surface and came to a rest in front of me. If I wasn't mistaken, that was a harlequin style romance novel.

Kassy caught me staring at the book and laughed, "Yeah, that's 'Liv's favorite book. I'm just returning it to her."

That was... not the impression I'd gotten of Shepard. I decided to change the subject in favor of avoiding an in depth discussion about the finer points of writing superfluous, and often overly complex, romantic interludes. "I didn't know Shepard was deployed in a sniper squad."

"Really? I'd have thought...never mind," she leaned back and kicked her boots onto the table, shoving her bag to the floor. "Yeah, this was back before she became a big goddamn hero."

I chuckled at the nomenclature. Pre-Elysium Shepard was hard to fathom. "You guys must have gotten into all sorts of trouble."

Kassy grinned and leaned in conspiratorially. "Pretty much. One time, we - "

"I found it!" Shepard appeared at the doorway to her room. I was only slightly disappointed that I wouldn't get to hear whatever story Kassy had been about to tell as Shepard plopped herself between us on the couch and handed Kassy _Gateway_ by Fred Pohl. My disappoint quickly dissipated in light of the rather excellent story in front of me. This was more in line with what I considered to be Shepard material. _Gateway_ was the book I used to read late at night after lights out at BAaT with my small circle of friends. Not a hard copy, though. _That_ intrigued me more.

"Sweet!" Kassy flipped the book over to examine the back. "Still can't believe you got me into all this sci-fi shit."

"_Gateway_ is a _fantastic_ book. I've read it multiple times. Though never on paperback. Seriously, how did you get a hard copy?"

"Hero, perks, etc." Shepard paused and tapped her chin thoughtfully. "And credits. Credits always help. I have an edition printed from late 20th century in my closet."

I twisted to look at Shepard, disbelief etched on my face. "No way."

Her eyes sparkled at having found another connoisseur of old books. "Absolutely! Got the whole saga on hardback - "

"Okaaay," Kassy breathed out loudly, "Before you geeks get carried away, I'd like to point out that _your _book, 'Liv, is on the table."

Shepard leaned forward and picked the harlequin novel up from the table, and her jaw dropped. "You have got to be kidding me."

"I read your sci-fi, you read my romance. That's the deal."

Shepard grimaced but set the book back down. My previous suspicions that it was a very un-Shepard like book were confirmed. "Fiiiiiine."

"I better head out," Kassy rose from the sofa and Shepard followed suit. I was about to join them as they crossed towards the entryway, Kassy slinging her duffel over her shoulder, but something on Shepard's tech bench caught my attention and curiosity got the better of me.

"I can't decide whether to read your book fast and get it over with, or wait until the last minute."

"So long as you read it, doesn't matter," Kassy enveloped Shepard in a hug while I picked up the small device that _looked_ like a standard technicians probe, but was in the wrong casing and had the wrong buttons. Omni modding hardware? No... it lacked the necessary diagnostic attachment. I scanned the contents of the bench. An omni modification tool rested on the far side beneath a technicians lamp. "You geeks...I mean, guys, have fun talking about book editions."

I missed Shepard's reply as I activated my omni-tool and scanned the odd-looking device that was _not_ a scanner, but had to do _something_. I just didn't know _what_.

"Kaidan, it was nice meeting you," Kassy hollered and I set the mystery object down and waved at her. She unzipped the side pocket of her duffel and began stuffing the book into it when she exclaimed, "Oh!" and pulled out a small, neatly wrapped object. "I got you the Scharffen Berger."

The what? I glanced at the packaged object curiously before turning my gaze to Shepard. I was not prepared for the giddy gleam of delight that completely transformed her features.

"Extra dark?"

Kassy simply rolled her eyes before handing the small object over into Shepard's outstretched hands. "Of course. Picked it up while on shore leave at earth a few weeks back, visiting my brother."

"You have no idea how much I love you right now."

The small object in question turned out to be chocolate. Expensive looking chocolate, judging from the wrapper, but still chocolate. Never in a million years would I have guessed that Shepard had a thing for something so simple as chocolate.

Kassy winked amusedly at me. "You say that every time I get you your fix."

"It's especially true today."

"Really?"

"Mmm, I'd kill for the Scharffen Berger."

"Well, with your birthday coming up, I figured I should do my civic duty and save an innocent civilian from becoming a victim to your chocolate-induced murder spree."

"I would have hated having to wave my Spectre card for that," Shepard agreed.

"Just don't forget to share it," Kassy jerked her head in my direction.

"You're going to make me share my birthday present?" Kassy nodded. "You're a cruel woman."

"Yeah, yeah. I better head out before the Major Owens has my head for holding up the ship. I'd rather not be raked over the coals. Take care, 'Liv."

"You too."

After Kassy exited the apartment, I returned my attention to the bench. "What is this?" I presented what I had formally dubbed Unidentifiable Object A to Shepard.

"You really want to know?"

"Absolutely."

"Do you forgo your claim on my Scharffen Berger?"

"I'd forgo my claim on _coffee_ to know what this is." I considered my statement and amended it. "For a day."

Shepard smiled as she crossed the room and picked up the small device. Her fingers danced across my hand as she slid the object out of my grasp and pressed a couple buttons. The lighting dimmed dramatically in her apartment before cutting out completely. After a few moments of complete darkness where I stared around me in a mixture of equal parts amusement and disbelief, the lights turned back on. She tossed the device back to me with a smile.

"Glorified light-switch."

-K-

**AN:** I want to thank Kassandra Black, TheRev28, and Letticiae for helping me out with the dialogue in this chapter when I got stuck. Also, the character 'Kassy' is written by one of my best friends Kassandra Black, so credit for hilarity goes to her!

Also, for any fans of _No Strings Attached_, I have an important announcement posted on my profile! ;)


	23. Kaidan vs The Mako

**Kaidan vs The Mako**

-K-

"Well," I said, staring at the M35 Mako, an infantry-fighting class vehicle designed to take on all sorts of abuse ranging from (but not limited to) high altitude drops, a spectrum of temperatures that would kill most sapient species, and extraordinarily hazardous terrain, "I really have no frakking clue."

Not even two days since shipping out from Arcturus, the Mako was already out of commission. Tali was on shift in engineering dealing with a drive core upgrade the techs at Arcturus had handed Shepard, a piece of software that was supposed to improve the efficiency of the IES stealth system. Tali and Adams both were cautiously optimistic about the effects the upgrade would have on the ships ability to store heat for an extended period of time, and were utterly engrossed in the upgrade. Our attempts to get their attention had ended poorly with the best response constituting a quietly muttered curse followed by the statement that the upgrade would take the better part of two days to complete and we should frak off and let them do their jobs. Otherwise Garrus and I wouldn't have been standing in front of the Mako, hood up, and covered in grease up past our elbows completely and thoroughly stumped as to what exactly was wrong. So far our hypothesis was 'something mechanical, potentially the suspension' accompanied by the afterthought, ''cause if it was technical, I'd have totally fixed it by now,' which was usually responded to with, 'of course, absolutely.'

"It's got to be something seemingly insignificant, otherwise it would have tripped the sensors in the microframe computer system." Garrus tapped a maintenance probe against his mandibles, leaving a spotted trail of engine grease. "I just don't know what. Should we lift it up?"

I shrugged. "So we can stare at the undercarriage just as quizzically?"

Garrus tossed the diagnostic probe onto the bench and heaved himself onto a nearby crate. I wiped my brow with a rag before tossing it on top of the bench, but remained standing, contemplatively staring at the Mako and silently demanding it answer my question: _why won't you work?_

"What the hell did Shepard do?" I asked and Garrus threw up his arms, something I was decently sure he'd picked up from talking to Williams.

It certainly was expressive.

"I know, I know," I muttered. I'd ridden in the Mako with Shepard enough to know the experience was certainly... memorable; though probably not in the way she intended. Unless she delighted in inspiring terror in the occupants of the cramped cab. I'd given up on navigating 'safe' routes for her because if she thought the Mako could drive over it, she would damn well drive over it with the carefree attitude of a thrill seeker and shoot anyone who suggested that maybe shaving a minute or two off the driving time wasn't a good idea. "What'd she drive over this time?"

"Not over, _through_," the turian corrected, appending a muttered curse that wasn't picked up by my translator and so remained foreign. "Sharjila was covered in silica. Some of it had drifted together from the wind, forming deep swathes of the crap. In her infinite commanderly wisdom, Shepard decided that driving through a wide drift was better than driving around it. Damn near rolled the Mako over when that drift turned out to be hiding a deep pit our sensors hadn't registered because of the frakking silica is just dense enough to register as solid, but not dense enough to support a tank. We pitched forward and only reckless use of the micro-thrusters pulled our asses out of the fire."

I shone the light beneath the hood. We'd already hosed down the engine and cleaned up everything that'd gone tacky from the silica gumming up the works. "You know," I mused as I inspected the engine, "there's a reason I never became a mechanic."

"Give me a gunship, and I'll get it working beautifully. But this?" Garrus blew out a breath, the air whistling as it passed through pinched mandibles.

"Too bad the military doesn't run according to the 'you break it, you fix it,' philosophy."

"I'd like to see you tell Shepard to fix it."

"Thanks, but I like being alive and having all my limbs intact."

Garrus grunted and vaulted off the crate. "I'm going to go through the ignition sequence again."

I activated my omni-tool to scan for any anomalies while Garrus jumped into the cab, leaving the door open. Both of us knew it wasn't the ignition. Our initial guesses when we'd first started the diagnostic process had centered on one of the forward thrusters misfiring.

That hypothesis had been shot to hell when the onboard computer system reported no errors in micro-thruster output. Just to be sure, we'd ran a complete diagnostic on the computer, wanting and not wanting at the same time for the program to be corrupt. Restoring the computer to a functional point would have taken the better part of the evening because debugging lines of code was a bitch, but would have been worth it if it confirmed a thruster malfunction.

Unfortunately, the diagnostic had resulted in zero errors, and we'd found ourselves back at point A, in over our heads because mechanical problems weren't our specialty and our pleas to the engineering crew had gone unanswered in favor of the drive core upgrade. I was beginning to lean towards, based upon my limited understanding of armored vehicle construction and what I'd so far managed to glean from the spec manual for the Mako, the problem centering around the suspension system.

Too bad I knew next to nothing about suspension systems. Neither did Garrus. Hell, we weren't even sure that's what was _wrong_, it was just the best guess we had since we'd definitively proven that this was _not_ a technical problem. Add to that the fact that the Mako sported three independent sets of tires, each set complete with its own parts, gears, and springs undoubtedly waiting to be broken at Shepard's command, and Garrus and I were in for a long night.

The Mako roared to life and my omni-tool diagnostics mode went live.

"Ignition sequence checks out," I said. "Nothing funny on my screen. You're good to kick it into gear."

Almost immediately, the left front-end of the Mako pitched upwards nearly imperceptibly before sharply returning back to the zero on the Z axis. Garrus had confirmed the pitching was worse while actually driving, which had caused Shepard all sorts of problems in maneuvering over the landscape, forcing her to drive moderately safely. During the mission, however, the unpleasant bobbing had been attributed to the caked-on silica up until the moment it'd been driven aboard, cleaned out, and restarted.

That was about the time Garrus had summoned me down to the cargo hold, and we'd been down here ever since.

"I really wish it'd been the silica," I muttered under my breath, motioning to Garrus that he was clear to drive forward.

He stopped the Mako after driving five feet forward. The bob was more pronounced, isolated to the front left of the tank. Well, that was a start.

We'd managed to narrow down the area of the problem.

The engine cut and Garrus jumped out of the cab. "Front left."

"Got it."

Garrus lifted the hood and kicked the mechanic's cart to me. I laid down on the small slab and wheeled myself beneath the Mako, light shining down from above provided by Garrus' 'tool. I added my own to the mixture and critically examined with my completely untrained eye, because mechanical work was purely a hobby, the undercarriage of the Mako.

"Move it left." Garrus complied. I stared at the components, decently sure that I could identify any major malfunctions and not spotting any, before I said, "I've got nothing. Everything _looks_ solid, and I don't see any visible cracks or fractures. Nothing is obviously broken."

"Same on my end."

"Might be something we can't see without removing the tire," I shrugged. Removing the tire wasn't something I particularly cared to do.

"That's something we can save for tomorrow. I'm going to get something to eat and turn in." The light disappeared, but I stayed beneath the hood, shining my light around to try and see past the splash guard protecting the more delicate engine parts and failing. "It's getting late."

"Alright," I replied, "You go ahead. I'm going to read up on the suspension system."

"Have fun with that," Garrus answered.

I slid out from beneath the Mako, omni-tool still on, and stretched my arm upwards, muscles protesting from being held aloft for so long in the cramped space. I could hear Williams on the other side of the garage cleaning her guns, humming along to music she had broadcasting through her earpiece. I rubbed my eyes with my other hand, undoubtedly smearing dirt across my face, or simply moving around whatever dirt was already there into more colorful patterns, before lowering my tool back down to reading level and starting from the top.

I must have read the same paragraph three times before I realized I wasn't really absorbing the information. I switched to looking at diagrams of the suspension system, all the reasons I'd never become a mechanic flooding to the forefront of my brain, and willed myself to understand how all the small parts connected to form the whole, so I could compare that against what our Mako was showing me and hopefully determine which part wasn't functioning so that when tomorrow rolled around, we could finally fix the damned.

What would be even better is if the upgrade in engineering went so well they decided to give us a hand.

My eyes kept drooping as I studied the diagrams and each shake of my head jostled my position enough to shift the cart beneath me. I considered the merits of getting a cup of coffee.

The thought of caffeine was almost enough to pull me to my feet right then and have me moving for the mess hall, but inertia won. My arm hit my forehead. A nice, hot cup of coffee sounded about right... certainly better than Williams' current poor humming.

Still, bad humming aside, the music was a welcome distraction from staring at diagrams. Which I wasn't doing anymore since I'd closed my eyes, but a break never hurt anyone. Besides, Garrus wasn't here to help me tear off the tire, and I wasn't about to do it on my own.

I adjusted my position on the cart and, without meaning to and sparing a thought that maybe I should turn off my 'tool, drifted off.

-K-

A gentle tapping against my shoulder pulled me slowly out of sleep and I breathed deeply, rubbing my eyes with the hand that was strewn limply across my forehead, the remnants of a dream wisping away as dreams were wont to do shortly after waking, leaving me with the vague yet pleasant feeling of something half-remembered.

Something involving... omni-tools? That mental note to check into a new 'tool must have made its way deeper into my subconscious than I thought.

The tapping started again, soft yet persistent against my shoulder as my breathing slowed.

I brushed my hand against the offending object, my fingers colliding with something warm and small, almost delicate, and attempted to mumble, 'I'm awake,' but was pretty sure it came out much more eloquently as, "Hmmm...mmmmm," because my lips hadn't moved.

The warm object returned, tapping against the back of my hand this time, and I blearily peeled my eyes open, vision still foggy from sleep.

I didn't remember falling asleep outside, but that was the only rationale my brain conjured when confronted with the light yet deep blue color of the sky, tinged at the edges with orange and red reminiscent of a sunset. Flecks of dark blue peppered the sky and I blinked again to clear away the fog, because dark blue spots in the sky didn't make sense even to my sleep-addled brain.

As my eyes fought to focus, I realized rather stupidly, if happily, that the blue were _eyes_. Something beeped softly in the background and blue eyes blinked down at me, bright and clear. The tapping ceased, and I wondered if the eyes were responsible for that. It didn't matter. A guy could wake up to those eyes every day. They were deep and mysterious, blue not like the sky as my previously bleary vision had suggested, but like a glacier seated deep in the ocean. They held none of the coldness of the glacier though, and instead radiated warmth.

No, this wasn't such a bad way to wake up at all...

"Hey."

Reality came crashing down as my brain registered the owner of the voice, and therefore eyes, as Commander Shepard. Fingers brushed against my wrist and the soft orange glow dissipated.

I rubbed my eyes, but for an entirely different reason than earlier. Hopefully to hide any embarrassment that might have shone through as soon as I realized who I was looking at, praying that in my groggy haze, I'd simply appeared _sleepy_ and not sleepily giddy. "What time is it?"

"Oh, 0200," Shepard replied and I lowered my arm, disbelief etched across my face. Had I really been out that long? Shepard's eyes sparkled with laughter. "I know the sleeper pods can be a bit confining sometimes, but this is taking it to a whole new level." She inspected the cart beneath me. "Certainly not as comfortable."

"You'd be surprised." Shepard arched an eyebrow clearly not buying, but definitely amused by, my statement. I didn't buy it either. I could already tell my neck was going to be paying the price for my extended nap tomorrow and that my morning session in the gym would be accompanied by more aches than usual.

I started to sit up but the cart slid with me and instead I rolled a couple inches along the floor. My fingers scrambled at the edge, feeling for the brake catch when Shepard reached over my chest and held the cart in place on either side so I could scoot upwards. I gave her a grateful smile and pulled myself up, trapping her forearm between my chest and knees which I didn't realize until I felt her fingers slip past my chest as I wiped the sleep off my face with both hands. I murmured an apology and Shepard murmured something back that I didn't quite catch but sounded like, 'no problem.'

When I lowered my hands, I became keenly aware of just how _grimy_ I was and mused that I should probably take a shower before hitting the rack.

"Want to see my new favorite photo?"

The way she voiced the words made my hackles rise and my suspicions were confirmed when I peered over at her kneeling form sitting less than a foot away, slightly devilish grin painted on her lips. Following The Incident on Therum I had told Shepard in no uncertain terms that if she wanted to continue drinking from my secret stash of premium coffee she'd better think twice before blackmailing me with that photo. With her coffee fix on the line, she'd been more than happy to agree to my terms.

"I swear, I didn't take this one." She activated her omni-tool and swivelled the display so I could see the offending photo taken of me, crashed out on the cart, one arm swung over my head and my omni-tool still on. It _was_ amusing and I might have laughed if I wasn't the object of humor. "Williams had the honors this time. Ran into her about twenty minutes ago in the mess hall grinning like an idiot."

"And she just gave it to you freely?"

Shepard smiled guiltily. "Certainly after I asked, she did."

"One of these days, I'm going to catch you in a compromising position and then we'll be even."

"It's hard to catch a sniper in a compromising position."

"It's also hard to kick an N7's ass, but I managed that so I think I'll take my chances."

Shepard radiated an unspoken challenge as she grinned at me, and I felt heat rise up my collar. She jerked her head towards the Mako. "So what's wrong with the truck?"

"You _broke_ it, is what's wrong with it." I stood up and helped Shepard to her feet. "Can I have a copy of the photo?"

"Sure. You'll have to be more specific than 'you broke it' if you want my help."

"Thanks," I said as Shepard waved her omni-tool over mine, transferring the photo. "I'm pretty sure something's funky with the suspension on the driver's side front tire."

"Why do you want the photo?" she asked, dipping her head beneath the hood of the Mako. She directed her light expertly and studied the suspension system. "Definitely the suspension. The electromagnetic motor is slightly out of alignment. Hand me a wrench, will you?"

"My mom will like it," I grabbed the wrench off the bench and walked back over to the Mako, handing the tool to Shepard. She disappeared into the Mako's inner guts. "Better than the standard Alliance ID photos I send her. Candid shot like this will make her day."

Her voice was muffled as she answered, "In that case, you should snag a copy of the other one with you dangling in the air."

"Giving me permission to hack your 'tool?"

"This time."

"I won't find any other ill-gotten photos, will I?"

"Depends on where you look."

I was glad Shepard was currently chest deep inside the Mako and so missed the double take I did on her as I activated my 'tool and sought hers out on the network. After a minute, her omni released a soft beep and Shepard grunted her approval.

It didn't surprise me in the slightest that her personal folder was neatly organized. It certainly made it easier to hunt down the specific file in question. Despite the permission, I felt uncomfortably like I was trespassing because I'd just hacked into my CO's omni - something that definitely wasn't covered in the book of Regs. Or if it was, the line simply read 'don't.' Granted, I was retrieving a photo of _myself_ to give to my _mom_, but it still felt wrong. I successfully resisted the urge to peek around, sure that Shepard would be able track my invasion later if I took too long. Should I peek at anything I hadn't been explicitly told to look at, I could kiss our friendship goodbye.

I valued Shepard's friendship. Aside from that, snooping personal stuff was something more suited to Joker and not myself.

I found the picture, copied it, and closed the connection. I ordered my omni to forget the hacked password.

"You didn't push a malicious script through, did you?"

"Guess you'll have to wait and see."

"Damn, I hate surprises."

"Unless those surprises are chocolate shaped, right?" I teased, remembering the giddy Shepard from two days ago.

"Damn straight. Okay, I need the regulator." I retrieved the requested item and handed it to her. "You mind shining your light so I can use both my hands for this?"

"Where do you want it?"

"Over my left shoulder, angled about sixty degrees from the horizontal."

I climbed up onto the lip of the Mako, maneuvering myself under the hood so I could lean over Shepard's left shoulder and direct the light. I balanced myself by crossing my right arm over Shepard so I could use the frame and not the engine for support.

"Perfect," she muttered, shutting her light off and activating the regulator. I watched her deftly realign the motor - something I would never have caught and was grateful Shepard had - and anticipated where she'd need the light as she adjusted her hands to perform the delicate procedure.

The alignment process took the better part of fifteen minutes before Shepard finally relaxed and slid out, her hands covered in grime now too. "That should do it."

"You're kidding me," I said more out of disbelief that the fix really had been that easy rather than doubting Shepard's expertise.

"Tractors, farm-girl," she replied. "Used to work on them all the time with my dad. Better turn it on, though, just to be sure."

I crawled into the cab and Shepard followed me, peering over my shoulder at the display while expertly tilting her head so she could monitor the movement of the tire as I started the Mako. When I shifted it into gear, the cab remained steady. A glass of wine wouldn't have tipped over. I shared a grin with Shepard before pulling her up to stand on the runners, wrapping my arm around her waist for support while I operated the navigation controls with my other hand and drove the Mako forward a couple feet just to be absolutely sure that the problem really was fixed.

It drove as smooth as if it were fresh off the assembly line.

Shepard whooped in delight and raised her hand to high-five me, which I smacked exuberantly because I'd spent a good portion of my afternoon and all of my evening with Garrus trying to figure out what the damned problem was, and now it was _fixed_, and that was_ awesome_ because it meant I could finally shower.

"Next time the Mako doesn't work, I'm going to tell Garrus to call you instead."

Shepard climbed down from the cab and I followed suit, noticing my hand had left a dirty smudge on the backside of her uniform with only a little guilt because, frankly, she'd caused the problem in the first place and secondly, she was covered in dirt up to her elbows and even had a smudge of grease on the tip of her nose. A little grime on her shirt would go unnoticed when taking in the whole package. I started collecting the tools scattered across the floor to stow back into the maintenance storage crates. Nothing was left loose and lying about in the cargo hold unless you wanted it to go flying out the bay the next time the _Normandy_ performed an airdrop.

"I guess I should go a little easier on her, huh?" Shepard tossed a rag in my direction and I wiped my hands with no effect.

"Might make Garrus breathe a little easier."

"Ha," she barked, "Garrus wasn't the one down here sleeping."

"You know," I closed the lid to the crate and started for the elevator, "I might have to bribe Williams into getting a photo of you in that N7 onsie if you keep giving me crap. Preferably after you've overslept just to make it that much more dramatic."

She punched the call button. "Do it, and you'll have declared war, Alenko."

The words hit me like ice running down my spine, but not in a bad way.

-K-

**AN:**__I, much like Kaidan, know enough about cars to fix minor problems but would be in way over my head with something like a futuristic suspension system which I half-made up based on my limited knowledge of cars. So if it sounds weird, it's because I took what I do know/researched and mashed it with what I think fits/works with the technology of the ME 'verse.


End file.
